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<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: 17.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 12pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Suffering
is a prerequisite to enjoying Dobama’s ‘Belleville’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns
= "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Jewish
News<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member, International
Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“To be an actress you
have to love to suffer, and I only <EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">like</SPAN></EM><SPAN
class=apple-converted-space><I> </I></SPAN>to suffer,” says Abby early in
Amy Herzog’s “Belleville,” which is getting its regional premiere at Dobama
Theatre.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She may only like
suffering, but the former actress has certainly mastered the art of it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Despite being a young
American living in Paris and teaching yoga while her physician husband conducts
important research on pediatric AIDS, Abby (Llewie <EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Nuñez</SPAN></EM>)
is miserable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She is a jumpy,
jealous, homesick bundle of neuroses who has taken herself off the
antidepressants that have kept her suffering in check and her life in
balance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Amy grows increasingly
fragile and ready to implode from the pressure of problems she so vividly
imagines.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Or are they
real?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Abby’s husband, Zack
(Matt O’Shea), tries desperately to make her happy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He puts up with her random mood swings,
accommodates her controlling and confounding rules of engagement, and keeps
himself sane in the process.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His
coping mechanisms are questionable -- a fondness for online pornography and
sharing the occasional bowl of marijuana with his landlord/ downstairs <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white">neighbor, </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Alioune
(Robert Hunter) </SPAN>– but his efforts to make things work seem
genuine.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Or are they?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As our playwright did
in “4000 Miles,” which was performed at Dobama in 2012, she once again sets her
focus on the intimate particulars that define a problematic relationship between
damaged people.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And she does so
with the astute attention to detail and the rhythms of naturalistic dialogue
that have become her trademark. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This time around,
however, the interpersonal dysfunction on display causes so much friction that
the characters can warm themselves by it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And, to <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white">make things even more interesting, she places her
players and her patrons on shaky ground.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3>For
more of this review, go to: </FONT><A href=""><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3>http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_60cf63ea-3778-11e4-9c49-001a4bcf887a.html</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
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