The Puppetmaster of Lodz

THE PUPPETMASTER OF LODZ by Gilles Segal officially opens tomorrow, Monday December 3, at the ArcLight Theater. The show is a co-production between Mirth Theatre Company and the Blue Heron Theatre Company.

Directed by Bruce Levitt (Cornell University) it features puppets created by Ralph Lee (Artistic Director of Mettawee River Theatre, artist in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine).

Ardelle Striker, Blue Heron's Artistic Director is more excited about this show than I've seen her in years. I'm also looking forward to seeing the work of my friend, lighting designer Paul Bartlett. You can be sure it will all be running smoothly in the capable hands of Stage Manager Sarah Ford. I can't wait to see it! It looks like it's shaping up to be a first-rate production.

Set in Berlin in 1950, the play is both a mystery story and the portrait of a noble man, Samuel Finkelbaum, a master puppeteer who since his escape from a concentration camp has locked himself in an attic apartment, patiently awaiting the end of World War II. Within his retreat, he creates a fantasy world with his puppets, which unfolds an unforgettable tale of profound love and the creativity of the human spirit in the face of devastation.

Featuring Suzanne Toren, Daniel Damiano, Herbert Rubens and Robert Zukerman.

Excerpts of Reviews of Puppetmaster from Around the Country

"A theatre experience that at various moments is startling, moving, mesmerizing, humorous and tragic." - Milwaukee Journal.

"Gilles Segal's play...is the wrenching, sometimes funny, and haunting story of a Holocaust survivor. It's about burying the dead, dealing with the wreckage, and moving on. Don't let those issues intimidate you, though...Puppetmaster both entertains and delights; it just doesn't do it in ways you might expect." - Baltimore City Paper Online

"This is a haunting play, a piece of theatre that remains in the mind long after the final curtain. It is a must-see production for anyone to whom the theatre is more than just fleeting entertainment." - The Schenectady Daily Gazette

"...Robert Zukerman, who plays Puppetmaster Finkelbaum with aching intensity, is nothing short of astonishing." - KPBS-FM San Diego, CA

Putting It Together

Greetings, I invite you to join us this Wednesday evening (November 14th) for a very fun fundraiser. My colleague Miriam Eusebio is launching a new theater company (The Intentional Theater) and is hoping to raise enough money to pay for the rights to Samuel Beckett's Happy Days, which she has already secured permission to direct. The suggested donation is $25 bucks, but if that's a little steep for you, come anyway! It's sure to be a good party, lots of familiar faces, and an outstanding jazz performance by Sarah Lynch and Pete McCann. For more details visit www.intentionaltheater.org.

The Tricky Part

This weekend I attended the Male Survivor conference held at John Jay College for Criminal Justice here in New York City. I had been at the conference when it was last held in New York, back in 2001. This conference has become extremely important to me, as I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. This year there were attendees from all over the world, and the movement to raise awareness and advocate support for this most difficult of topics is finally beginning to gain some momentum.

Part of the conference this year was a performance by Martin Moran of his OBIE Award-winning one-person show The Tricky Part. I had read about this show when it was first presented at Second Stage and I'd always regretted not seeing it. So I jumped at the opportunity to finally catch it, especially in the context of the conference, and in the company of other men who share the experience of sexual abuse.

I had no idea what I was in for.

I really wasn't expecting a whole lot. I thought oh this will just be a straightforward narrative play about one person's experience of sexual abuse. Nothing too theatrical, but it might inform my own work.

This play completely rocked my world. I've never, and I mean never, had the experience of sitting in a theater and being completely overwhelmed with emotion. Tears were streaming down my face and my entire body was convulsing in uncontrollable sobs. Needless to say...the play struck a chord.

It was almost an out-of-body experience for me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was if someone had entered my own life, crawled around in my brain, figured out exactly what I have been feeling for twenty years, and expressed it beautifully, poetically, eloquently. This was by far the finest performance of a first-person narrative that I have ever seen, and that includes every show I had ever seen by Spalding Gray.

Now, of course I am not an entirely impartial critic. Martin's story so closely parallels my own experience of sexual abuse that I could be nothing but a fan of his bravery. But I definitely went into the theater that night expecting far less than what I got. I was rather hoping, in fact, to be disappointed because I too have been working on a show about my own journey through the quagmire of betrayal. I didn't want to see someone else beat me to punch. But Martin did. And I'm so grateful that he blazed this trail.

There is this part of me that thinks now my own story is completely irrelevant. What could I possibly add to the narrative that hasn't been expressed more poetically by Martin. But then I think that's just another excuse for not getting on with the work. It's terrifying terrain, and that means it's ripe for exploration. How do you tell a story like this? Well, that's the tricky part.

I only can say thank you to Martin. Thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for sharing your strength and courage. And thank you for simply surviving. It was truly a cathartic experience to watch your work, and I bless you for making that happen.

Peace.
W.