Roy Berko
(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)
When it
opened in New York last year, SONS OF THE PROPHET was called “the
first important new play of the fall season”
As you watch Dobama’s production of Stephen Karam’s play, you may find
yourself laughing, laughing at people in physical and psychological torture,
and ask, “How can I be laughing at this?”
In contrast to what many think, the opposite of laughing is not
crying. The opposite of those
closely related strong emotions is no emotion at all. Knowing this, Karam, a
master at word usage and idea development, has crafted a character-centered piece
that has pockets of humor, but never crosses the line into ridiculousness. This is both the strength of the play
and the weakness of the Dobama production.
We watch in horror as one calamity after another befalls a hapless
group of good-willed, ill-fated characters. No one is spared.
And, whether its God’s will, the fates, or an indifferent universe,
these people wallow in misfortune and pain.
The plot of the play, which was a Pulitzer Prize
finalist, centers on the Douaihys, an American Lebanese family living in Nazareth,
Pennsylvania. Brothers Joseph (29)
and Charles (18), whose mother died when they were young, have been orphaned
when their father dies, possibly because of a prank by Vin, a local football star. Vin, in an initiation ritual, placed a
plastic deer in the middle of a highway.
Mr. Douaihy, on the way home from work, swerved to avoid the deer and
crashed his vehicle. Taken to a
hospital, he died of a heart attack.
Whether the death was the result of the accident is not medically clear,
but the grief that results is vivid.
Joseph, a former Olympic level runner, is
suffering from a series of illnesses, the cause of which medical tests can’t
discover. Is it MS, some other
physical disease, or psychologically motivated?
In order to get insurance coverage, Joseph goes
to work for Gloria, a book-packager, who has deep psychological problems. Knowing that the Douaihys are distant
relatives of the world’s third beat selling author, Kahilil Gibran, who wrote THE
PROPHET, Gloria becomes obsessed about Joseph writing a tell-all family story.
Obstinate, prejudiced, aging and ill, Uncle Bill,
now the family patriarch, who is dependent on the boys for physical care, is
opposed to revealing any family tales.
To add to the family dysfunction is the fact that
the brothers are gay.
Based on self-pity, pain, and loneliness, Joseph has
a sexual affair with Timothy, a gay reporter sent to write a story of the
accident, with traumatic results.
Dobama’s production works on many levels,
stumbles on others.
In an interesting staging device, the play uses
floor projections, inspired by the chapter headings in Gibran’s THE PROPHET, to
identify the sections of the script.
Chris Richards gives an excellent textured
performance as the conflicted Joseph, who acts as the eye of the hurricane. His emotions are raw, his thoughts and
feelings clearly displayed. Christopher
Sanders, a Chris Coffer (TV’s FAME) look-alike, is spot-on as the mildly
flamboyant Charles who is filled with teenage and personal angst.
Bernard Canepari is believable as the frustrated Uncle
Bill. Aaron Mucciolo stays close
to the surface as Timothy. Anne
McEvoy travels the path between overacting and portraying the often hysterical
Gloria with fidelity. She never
becomes a caricature, a danger with this type of role. She is properly pitiful, while evoking
the right amount of empathy.
Jonathan Jackson is not believable as Vin. Laura Starnik and Jeanne Task, in spite
of some outlandish wigs, and a confusing cross-dressing scene, effectively do
as directed.
Director Scott Miller has paced the play well, and
has helped most of the actors develop meaningful characters. Unfortunately, the play stumbles in two
important scenes.
In one segment, Van and the Douaihy family are
appearing before the school board which is to determine whether the boy will be
removed from the football team for his prank. Rather than playing the scene as a message developing
experience, Miller opts for a farcical interpretation. The school board members are played as
gossiping fools, Van reads his prepared message in a laugh provoking manner, and
the acting goes over the reality line into farce. The play is a drama with comic overtones, and this important
message developing scene should definitely not be farcical!
The play’s last scene finds Joseph in a physical
therapy center, interacting with Mrs. McAndrew, a favorite elementary school
teacher. The emotional bond
between the two is obvious.
Unfortunately, the scene ends in midair…not with the required dénouement. On opening night the audience was
so unaware that the play was over they sat in silence waiting for the next
scene and were visibly surprised
to see that the curtain call was enfolding.
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: SONS OF THE PHOPHET is a brilliant script which gets an
acceptable production at Dobama.
It’s a shame because the quality of the material is superb, and the
cast, with more focused guidance, was capable of living up to the positive hype
a production of this script deserves.
SONS OF THE
PROPHET runs through March 17, 2013 at Dobama Theatre.
Call 216-932-3396 or http://www.dobama.org for tickets.
