Displaying items by tag: Albert Einstein

Fans of highly intellectual and nonlinear storytelling will love INCOGNITO. Playwright Nick Payne is known for plays with inventive narrative structures and deep philosophical inquiry—qualities that are clearly in evidence in INCOGNITO. This production is the Chicago debut of INCOGNITO; across the Pond the work has been praised for the innovative storytelling with which it probes memory, genius and identity.

Payne’s ‘inventive narration’ and ‘innovative storytelling’ are very much evident in INCOGNITO. Approximately twenty characters are enacted by a cast of but four: Teddy Boone, Shannon Leigh Webber, Erin Alys and Riles August Holiday. Though I found the nonlinear script difficult to follow, I was never in doubt as to which character each actor was portraying.

Incognito moves shapelessly across space and time, interweaving three independent storylines. One plot focuses on the pathologist who performed the autopsy of Albert Einstein. In doing so he extracted Einstein’s brain, which he stored variously in the trunk of his car, in the basement, and in a jar of formaldehyde. I was unable to discern exactly why he did so or what purpose he intended for this heirloom; presumably he simply wanted to have it, not necessarily use it. Anyone who shops on Amazon as zealously as I do will understand this. Contiguous plots involve Einstein’s descendants, whose views on this management of their august ancestor’s residuum range from horror to enthusiastic endorsement.

It's my private hypothesis that one factor supporting the cast’s proficiency at managing multiple roles is the broad variety of skills each of them brings to the stage.  Shannon Leigh Webber, for example, not only acts herself but also teaches drama in primary schools (which sounds like fun to me, though I appreciate that not everyone will share this view). Erin Alys is an actor, an intimacy director and an educator, while also a stunt performer and fight director, focusing on found objects and unarmed combat [reading this, I couldn’t help but wondering if she works with Babes With Blades]. My companion and I were both deeply impressed by the actors’ expertise at playing several very different roles.

The production team was also superb. Designers of Costume (Kasey Wolfgang), Lighting (Jack Goodman), and Sound (Alex Kingsley), with scenic designer Marcus Klein, cooperated seamlessly to fashion a smooth professional production. I especially admire Stage Manager Joey Bluhm’s backstage prowess; there was often less than five seconds between scenes, with actors streaming onstage from all sides in total darkness. I’ve never been a Stage Manager, but it’s my naive belief that this sort of opuscule [great word, huh? I do so love words!] is a Stage Manager’s nightmare: a small cast, playing many characters, entering a vacant stage through disparate portals … oy!  How does one keep track and be sure everyone is where they need to be when they need to?

I said a ‘vacant’ stage; far from disparagement of Scenic Designer Klein’s proficiency, I am, rather, commending their restraint.  Dozens of props, furnishings, amenities and accoutrements could have been used, but Klein chose minimalism:  just two straight chairs … and a table? Was there a little table? I don’t remember … and that is, to me, a huge accolade; one should remember what took place on the stage rather than what was placed there.

Tin Drum Theater company was formed by Steve Needham and Jason Palmer, who are also Producer and Director of INCOGNITO, respectively. This sort of ‘inbreeding’, characteristic of Chicago’s ‘black box’ theatres, is, in my view, a strength. Theater is intimate by its very nature, with cast and production team enriching one another as they collaborate and interact. Though some may argue against such endogamy in the creative process, it is my view that diversification can only assist with the legion of elaborate procedures necessary to bring a show from script to stage.

Starlings are used in INCOGNITO as poetic symbols. Each individual bird communicates with just a few neighbors, yet together they form vast, seemingly choreographed, flights. In this context, starlings represent the illusion of free will and the fluidity of identity: neither can be formed in isolation, but solely through connection with others. The Director’s Note states: Even if we are shaped by memory, emotion, and electrical impulses, we are also shaped by choice, by connection, by the stories we live and the love we give’, concluding, ‘Yes, you are a figment of your own imagination’. I think that’s tres cool.

INCOGNITO is not for everyone; I don’t recommend it for either your kids or your grandparents. If, however, you would like to be ‘challenged, provoked, and inspired’, INCOGNITO by Tin Drum Theater is definitely for you!

Playing through August 3 at Theater Wit, 1229 W Belmont

*This review is also featured on https://www.theatreinchicago.com/! 

The storyline in Relativity is a supposed to be a mystery. The great physicist and mathematical theoretician Albert Einstein fathered a daughter, Liserl, out of wedlock in Switzerland with Mileva Marić– but all mentions of her disappear after the age of two.

What happened to her? Several theories have been put forward – that she died of scarlet fever, that she was put up for adoption - but the historical track was largely obliterated with the destruction of many records during World War II. Though Einstein later married Marić, his daughter disappears from the historical record after 1904.

Mark St. Germaine’s Relativity poses one possibility on her whereabouts , and Einstein is confronted with it many years later, by a mysterious visitor to his quarters in Princeton. Margaret Harding (Katherine Keberlein), a journalist who has come to profile him for the Jewish Daily News – and to challenge him on his neglect of his daughter.

Suffice it to say we witness a fair amount of unresolved anger in the encounter, during which Einstein also learns he has a grandchild – also a genius - who is seeking his support in entering a top university. This colorful and intriguing tale is enticement enough to see Relativity. But an added bonus is the fact that the lead is played by the oldest working union actor in the U.S. – the indomitable Mike Nussbaum. Known for his skillful and intelligent delivery including some of David Mamet’s most challenging dramas, Nussbaum at 93 makes a striking appearance. That he can do it at all may be surprising, but Nussbaum delivers a textured and nuanced characterization of the great physicist. He is bring his all to the role, though he doesn’t project at the same intensity as in days of yore – or maybe it’s my hearing going.

The script is okay, with its once over lightly descriptions of Einstein’s unprecedented theorems, and the family angst grows tiresome pretty quickly. There is also a lot of exposition in which the reporter recounts famous quotes and anecdotes from Einstein, who fills in with one liners that elicit some laughs.

Ann Whitney plays a crotchety housekeeper and secretary, the real-life Helen Dukas, and her chemistry with Nussbaum is delightful. Their scenes provide insight into the suffering of an aging genius who is unlikely to discover new universal theories. Nussbaum brings an unusual gift to this aspect of the role, and a hunt for a piece of chalk to write a formula on a blackboard captures the essence of the matter, opening a window into the unsettling existential void.

As always Northlight delivers high production values (Jack Magaw on scenic design; JR Lederle on lighting; Stephen Mazurek fir Projection Design) and director BJ Jones does an excellent job orchestrating the production. Relativity runs through June 25 at Northlight Theatre in Skokie.

“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is a charming “what if” story that has twentieth century groundbreakers Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso unexpectedly meeting at a bar in 1904. Set in Paris, France at the Lapin Agile, both men are on the brink of remarkable ideas – Picasso just a few years away from his famous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Einstein months away from publishing his revolutionary theory of relativity. Both men are also very confident in their genius and competitive in gathering attention for their intellect.  

Written by Steve Martin in 1993, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” debuted at Chicago’s Steppenwolf on October 13^th of the same year following a brief workshop of the play in Melbourne, Australia. There are plenty of laughs as Einstein tries to impress the bar patrons with his wayward predictions of the future such as the automobile being a fad, or France becoming the superpower of the twentieth century while Germany becomes the voice for peace.

At one point, Picasso, quite the ladies’ man and not one to be pushed out of the spotlight - especially in front of one of his lovers, challenges Einstein to a drawing duel, creating a scene that is preposterously funny and really shows the boyish competitiveness in each of them. It takes many an intriguing debate or perceptive musing before the two fianlly realize that their contributions to the human race are equally valuable. Interestingly enough, Martin makes a weighty statement on how the contributions of these great difference makers of the twentieth century are remembered by most as Einstein and Picasso meet Elvis towards the end. As the three look to the heavens and see their names in the stars, Elvis points out, “There’s my name. Above both of yours and three times as big.”

The play is filled with interesting characters. Outside of Einstein and Picasso, we have a bartender, Freddy, who now and then surprises all with a profound statement of his own. We also have an idealistic barmaid, Germaine, Picasso’s art dealer, an inventor and a few regular patrons at the bar to which Einstein is often found attempting to break down his theories in a much simpler language in order for them to understand.

Superbly directed by Josh Anderson, the Organic Theatre Company’s current production of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” at Greenhouse Theatre is an insightful piece that is both imaginative and funny. Joel Moses is wonderful as Einstein and Anthony Perrella Jr. is equal to the task as Picasso, together providing just the right touch of parodic humor to each character while keeping an appropriate tribute in place.      

The highly amusing “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is being performed at Greenhouse Theatre through June 26^th.  For tickets and/or more show information visit www.greenhousetheatre.org.