The darkly comic drama takes place in an out-of-the-way shop where Frank fixes lawnmowers, snow blowers and other machinery.
The performance space is in an area behind what was once the showroom at Superior Motors car dealership, across the street from the Edgar Thompson Steel Works in Braddock.
2 comments:
I love hearing about smart, site- specific theater, because there’s something so uniquely theatrical about the idea of literally immersing and surrounding the audience into a space that reflects and supports the themes of the show. Even though theater is all about the idea of “make-believe” and creating experiences and environments that, while they aren’t literally real, convey the same feelings that real-life exudes, I always think it’s important for theater artists to take advantage of the aspects of “reality” that they have access to (eg, performing a show in an old car showroom that takes place in a repair shop). As someone who wants to go into scenic design, I think it’d be so cool to design for a show to be performed in a space that ties into the show’s actual setting, and learn to embrace the unique space instead of trying to convert it into the proscenium style theater we are all far too familiar with. For example, I think it’d be a fun challenge to design a show for the warehouse; from what I’ve heard about/ seen of the design for Milk Like Sugar, I think the decision to do an urban show in an urban setting, and embrace the non-theater qualities of the space is so smart.
Wow this theatre sounds like it is just trying really hard. They are trying to make this production sound cool from every angle. They chose an interesting location, but maybe that is not what this show needs. It sounds kind of cool but maybe it is not supporting the story telling. And I felt like all the quotes from the actors were just dripping in desperation. One actors claimed he laughed out loud 5 times while reading the script. 1) that doesn’t really seem like that many times to laugh out loud 2) why would you feel the need to be so specific about the number of times you laughed? The quote that really provokes me the most in the article is when Patrick Jordan says “If you pay attention, it is a feminist play without any women on stage.” Maybe this is true, but reading the synopsis, I’m not sure how strongly I can believe him. I don’t think an actor in a production really has the authority to say if a play is feminist or not, especially a play that seems to revolve around bro culture and drugs.
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