Theater for the New City’s 27th annual
street theater extravaganza, "State of the Union,"
is another madcap adventure through the perils of current politics.
Written and directed by TNC’s artistic director Crystal Field,
with music by Joseph Vernon Banks, it features a company of 25
veteran and new actors and tours city streets, parks and playgrounds
throughout the five boroughs from Aug. 2 to Sept. 24.
At the core of the satire is the concept that American politics
is like oil: "It’s smooth, it’s groove and sticks like flies,
but way down deep: it lies."
"State of the Union" presents us with three New York
City mothers and sons: Bahamian (Carmen Mathis and Craig Meade),
Puerto Rican (Jessy Ortiz and Primy Rivera) and Italian (Crystal
Field and Alexander Bartenieff – real life mother and son, as
well) who meet at a hospital emergency room where the Italian
mother has been taken after falling ill from eating a bad sausage.
At the hospital, they fall victim to bureaucratic red tape and
callous medical care (the straight-faced and hilarious Mark Marcante
plays a golf club-toting physician who proclaims, "Don’t
call me doctor; I’m on vacation.") which indirectly causes
the death of a Bahamian granduncle.
When the three mothers try to call 1-800-FLOWERS to purchase
a memorial wreath, they accidentally dial 1-800-Turn-In-Your-Neighbor
– the hotline for Homeland Security – and the fun begins.
Homeland Security forces appear (wearing black suits and dark
glasses) and offer the families an ultimatum: either spy for
the state or go to jail. The unwilling families are thus coerced
into a worldwide mission to uproot religious fanatics, weapons
of mass destruction and other threats to the United States.
"State of the Union" is like the Marx Brothers on steroids.
It’s always refreshingly off-color, occasionally obscene and
sometimes flaunts a dash of potty humor.
In one scene, Meade is caught in the bathroom by an over-zealous
agent who examines his feces for evidence.
The excellent Terry Lee King plays a seductive Oil Queen dressed
in a shiny, slinky black suit adorned with pointy breasts. King
does a seductive dance and sings a throaty song (which would
have been far more effective if it had not been so obviously
lip-synched).
The action in "State of the Union" is non-stop. Actors
emerge from trap doors, and scenes change rapidly via a huge
9-foot by 12-foot running screen or "cranky" and movable
flats.
The cast has an admirable energy that complements and compensates
for the show’s rough edges. (There’s an improvised quality here
that makes "State of the Union" seem delightfully unrehearsed.)
And Banks’ music is every bit as catchy as Field’s biting lyrics.
Field and her company have joyously traded Broadway polish for
the grit of the city’s streets. Audience participation is not
only encouraged but required. Bells are distributed for ringing
at appropriate times and hesitant audience members are almost
dragged onto the stage to dance with the actors when the play
is over.
Although the primary targets of Field’s satire are American paranoia
and corrupt politicians – Bush (in an army vest) and his cohorts
all appear as grotesque giant masks – she also takes shots at
other public enemies: the Russian Mafia, terrorists and the expense
of education.
Field’s outlook, however, is anything but despairing. The hope
for America lies in those very rights we are all too eager to
give up in our quest for security.
"Whoever said democracy was easy? Whoever said democracy
was free?" the cast sings in the jazzy final number.
Indeed!
This summer you can spend a hundred dollars on a Broadway show
and come away with a smile on your face but not much in your
head. Or you can spend just an hour and a half with "State
of the Union" and come away with enough food for thought
for a full-course meal.
Theater for the New City’s production
of "State of the Union" plays Aug. 15, on the Coney
Island Boardwalk at West 10th Street at 8 pm; and Aug. 23, at
the Prospect Park Concert Grove (enter at Parkside and Ocean
avenues) at 2 pm. All performances are free and open to the public.
For a listing of additional performances in other boroughs now
through Sept. 24, call (212) 254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
