<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b class="" style="">Remembering A Loveless Future?<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></b></div><div class="" align="center" style="text-align:center">By Tom Wachunas<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><o:p class="" style=""> </o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6146"> The program notes
by director Jonathan Tisevich for the current Players Guild production of <i class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6174">The Giver </i>are, like the story, Spartan
and foreboding. “The GIVER is a warning shot across the bow to America 2015,”
Tisevich writes at one point. True enough. Yet, this cautionary parable
describes a hypothetical societal ethos far darker and more disturbing than
merely “American” in nature.<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6146"><br></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6145"> Spartan, too, is
the scenic design by Joshua Erichsen. The stage looks like a towering warehouse
of neutral- toned walls that eerily underscore a cold homogeneity, a literally
colorless reality. It’s a reality governed by stringent regulations of human
expressivity and behavior. Devoid of cultural memory and diversity, it’s a reality
built upon correcting “The Ruin” of a history remembered by only a single
individual, the revered “Receiver of Memory,” an advisor to the Council of
Elders. The controlling mantra for all communication in this dystopia is “precision
of language.” Undesired individuals, from babies to the elderly, are summarily
“released” – a numbing euphemism, of course, for killed. <o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6145"><br></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6147"> Precision of
language? In terms of compelling literature for the stage, Eric Coble’s
adaptation of the Lois Lowry book (which I didn’t read) often seems ambivalent
and underdeveloped. Still, the cast
manages to invest their portrayals of brainwashed citizens with some memorable
if not always likeable affect. <o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6147"><br></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6144"> The character of
Jonas, played by the Dominic Martello with riveting urgency, is the only one in
his community who authentically feels the tragic emptiness of his world. We are
as much repulsed as fascinated by Jonas’s parents (Tom Bryant as the father,
Cheryl Henderson as the mother) and delightfully impish little sister (Elise
Pakiela) and their formulaic language which has been mostly emptied of
sincerity or real meaning, and likewise Anne Rematt’s robot-like, martial
rendering of the Chief Elder. While Jonas’s friends, the endearingly clumsy Asher
(Zach Blake) and the sweet, reserved Fiona (Katie Remark) “graduate” to their
assigned jobs in the community, ironically enough Jonas is assigned to begin
his training to be the next Receiver.<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6144"><br></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6107" style=""> It’s an educational process both ecstatic and
excruciating for both Jonas and his teacher, the aging Giver. In that role,
Donald Jones is a poignant and compassionate presence, his demeanor a
combination of gentle authority and wearied, even sad resolve as he begins to transmit
the unimaginable weight of his collected remembrances to his youthful charge. As
Jonas acquires those memories – including the horrors of war and his first
inkling of real love - sections of books in the Giver’s massive library on the
drab rear wall of the set progressively light up in rainbow hues. Thus
Jonas’s gift for “seeing beyond” is intensely illuminated and he realizes he
must journey outside his community to mysterious “Elsewhere” if there is any
hope of changing the world. And so he escapes with an infant named Gabriel, who
was scheduled for release.</div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6107" style=""> <o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6143"> We’re never told
how, exactly, Jonas plans to bring his desires to fruition. We’re left,
arguably too much, to our own imaginative devices. As it is, his arduous wintry
journey ends at the house of a family celebrating Christmas. Jonas exclaims,
“Gabriel, we’re <i class="" style="">home</i>!” Is it so unreasonable to make a connection
between baby Gabriel and the angel of the same name, the messenger of true Hope
and Joy, whom we associate with The Holy Family?<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6143"><br></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6161"> In the end, maybe
what’s missing from this play is…precision of vision.<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6160"> <o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div class="" style=""> <i class="" style="">The Giver,</i> <b class="" style="">THROUGH March 8</b>, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday,
at <b class="" style="">Players Guild Theatre Mainstage</b>,
Cultural Center for the Arts, 1101 Market Ave. N, Canton. TICKETS: $25 for
adults, $23 for seniors, $17 for ages 17 and younger. On sale at 330-453-7617
and <a href="http://www.playersguildtheatre.com/" class="" style="">www.playersguildtheatre.com</a>.
<o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6062">
</div><div class="" style=""> For other commentaries
by Tom Wachunas on the arts in the greater Canton area, please visit ARTWACH
at <a href="http://www.artwach.blogspot.com/" class="" style="">www.artwach.blogspot.com</a> <o:p class="" style=""></o:p></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425389823985_6062" class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></div></div></body></html>