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face=Georgia><FONT color=#3c3c3c>‘East of Eden’ goes south at Ensemble
Theatre</FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Member, American Theatre Critics Association</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>“If John
Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ is epic then his ‘East of Eden’ is mythic.”
</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>So says
Frank Galati in a 2015 interview with the Chicago Tribune when asked about the
author’s most popular novel versus his most ambitious one, which Galati adapted
for Steppenwolf Theatre’s world premiere production and services Ensemble
Theatre’s current staging. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>“‘East of
Eden’ surely is the more challenging of the two narratives when it comes to
dramatization,” he added. “Its emotional demands are more complicated,
internalized, intense.”</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333>Complicated, internalized and
intense are exactly what is missing from Ensemble’s production of the play,
resulting in a valiant but largely ineffective effort under </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ">Ian Wolfgang Hinz’s direction.</SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>