Displaying items by tag: Nicholas Harazin

Walking in as curtain time neared for Photograph 51, the towering set took my breath away: a backdrop nearly three-stories tall, built of a latticework of delicately framed, vertical windowpanes with spiral staircases swirling down at each end, to meet a floor of foot-square hexagonal tiles.

Heavy quarter-sawn oak laboratory tables and cabinets filled the setting, a research lab that would play a pivotal role in the discovery of the structure of DNA molecules. As the play commenced, illumination flowed down the pillars of the window panels and along the irregular channels at the edges of the tile, creating an electrifying vision - mimicking the hexagon shape of those DNA molecules.

Strains of an evocative original score swelled as the action began in the laboratories of King’s College in London - the site of crucial research that led to the now familiar double helix structure of DNA molecules described by University of Cambridge researchers (and eventual Nobel laureates) James Watson and Francis Crick.

This play tells of unsung research heroine in that saga, Rosalind Franklin (played excellently by Chaon Cross), a chemist whose X-ray crystallography photographs (Photograph 51 was the big one) that provided a visual key unlocking the riddle of how DNA molecules were structured.

Watson (Alex Goodrich) and Crick (Nicholas Harazin) went on to Nobel glory, as did Franklin’s research partner Maurice Wilkins (played by Nathan Hosner), while Franklin’s pivotal role was largely forgotten. That is, until Watson’s outrageously misogynist portrayal of her in Double Helix, his autobiography. As the rare creature of her day, a woman research scientist, Franklin suffered the critiques of male peers that are familiar - she wasn't feminine enough, was hard to get along with, made the least of herself in dress and style. Needless to say,  these were taken more seriously in the 1950s. 

"Why collaborate with someone who's hard to get along with," as one of Franklin's peers puts it. Nonetheless, in this retelling of the story, Franklin asserted herself, insisting she be accorded equal respect, and resisting attempts to subordinate her research to her male lab partner, Maurice Wilkins.

"Dr. Wilkins, I will not be anyone's assistant," Franklin tells him, and she insists he refer to her as Dr. Franklin. 

Watson’s characterization of Franklin in Double Helix was widely criticized. Harvard, where Watson was teaching, refused to publish it.
Watson’s reputation and career has also been devastated by his advancement of theories that there is a link between race and intelligence.

Having lost his income, he became the only Nobel prize winner who to sell his award. U of C, which sustains the Court Theatre, may be trying to get on the right side of the issue by presenting Franklin’s story on stage – though it might want to revisit the distinguished alumni award it made to Watson in 2007. 

Would that the play measured up to such worthy goals, and the promise of its sets by Arnel Sancianco (scenic design), Keith Parham (lighting) Jeffrey Levin (sound). Instead, we have a show with great acting and production values – it reminds me of a Netflix pilot film – but with a story line, yet only a wandering plotline.

Plays need a drama to succeed, and instead we are given a timeline. All very interesting, to be sure, but not gripping.
As a result, instead of Franklin being the star of her own story, she is a supporting character. The closest thing we have to a protagonist is her partner Wilkens, who secretly carried a torch for her. That these scientists are such a nerdy bunch must have made it all the more difficult for playwright Anna Ziegler to develop the work. It was a success in London starring Nicole Kidman. The University of Chicago lent its academic bona fides and knowledge base to Court Theater’s production, and that greatly enriches the show.

There are moments, to be sure, including a wonderful soliloquy on the loneliness of a scientist's pursuit of knowledge. Likewise, the tortured moments of Wilkins, who struggled to recognize and express his feelings for Franklin.

We have a wonderful theatrical spectacle, and the direction by Vanessa Stalling made the most of Photograph 51, “mining Ziegler’s text for all its thematic complexities,” as artistic director Charles Newell puts it. Watson & Crick’s discovery in 1953 of the double helix changed history, and our view of ourselves as humans. The knowledge of DNA’s role – and the potential for engineering new directions using it – is the basis for a world of change in arts and sciences.

Photograph 51 is an illuminating story, and we are fortunate it is being told so beautifully - and perhaps that is enough to recommend it. The show runs through February 17 at Court Theatre.

*Now playing through February 23, 2019

What do you do when you receive a call from God? How do you even know if in fact it was a call from God? Could such a happening be a figment of the imagination stemming from one’s ego or a desire wanted so badly that a sign is unconsciously created? In Body and Blood now, currently running at Gift Theatre in Jefferson Park, Dan shocks his live-in girlfriend, Leah, when what she hopes is the beginning of a marriage proposal is instead an announcement that he is leaving her to become a priest. Dan, who has a history of not following through on most anything he does and is fortunate to even have a job at his brother-in-law’s luggage store, claims God appeared to him in an oak tree finally filling him with the purpose he so desperately needs to find fulfillment in life.

Of course Leah, hurt and stunned, suspects this is just another one of Dan’s misinterpreted impulses and possibly just a way of ending their relationship. It gets even better when Dan’s sister, Monica, and her husband, Mick, join the two on their backyard deck for an evening of dinner and drinks. Two devout Catholics, both Monica and Mick are also skeptical of Dan’s new “epiphany”, his sister absolutely livid thinking Dan is copping out on responsibility once again. The play gets even more interesting when the father of Dan’s parish stops by and breaks down the possibilities of Dan’s vision, leaving the available option that such a happening may have certainly happened and that only time will tell. Ultimately, we wonder – is Dan following his heart or creating a new excuse to shirk his current obligations.

Body and Blood is a thought-provoking story that also explores blind devotion to a faith and the hypocrisies, or contradictions, of Catholicism. How much are gays really accepted in the church even though so many priests have been outed in recent times?

The cast puts forth a well-rounded effort. Lynda Newton, one of The Gift Theatre’s founding members, is strong as Monica, dishing out the appropriate humor in her character when necessary and also very believable as one who is experiencing such conflict. In his first performance at The Gift, Nicholas Harazin also delivers a heartfelt performance as Dan and Cyd Blackwell as Leah compliments him well as his girlfriend, Leah.

There are plenty of moments in this play that will make you laugh and many that will make you really feel for the struggle each character is going through. The story moves with ease, the dialogue smooth as silk, and there is just enough intrigue to keep one wondering what will happen next. However, playwright William Nedved’s ending is somewhat flat and anti-climactic, leaving a bit to be desired after such a build up. Still, with solid acting performances, flowing interchanges with bite, emotion and humor and topic matter that might be found thought-provoking by some, there are enough reasons to make this a show worth checking out.

Soundly directed by Marti Lyons and aptly presented in an intimate storefront playhouse Body and Blood is being performed at The Gift Theatre through August 9^th. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.thegifttheatre.org or call 773.283.7071.