Monday, August 27, 2012

Asher's Command

THEATER 64
-winter 2002
The other reason why i couldn't go home for the holidays was rehearsals for my second Wood mainstage show, an original play by Marilyn Felt. It's about an idealistic jewish army officer who is befriended by a palestinian mechanic in the West Bank, and how their friendship fails to survive the region's animosities. It was very topical, as suicide bombings and reprisals were in the papers weekly. I liked the script, although i felt it still needed editing. I auditioned for Asher, the jewish lead. The director was a New Yorker named Tony Giordano, who was good friends with Bob Kalfin. When we met, i almost felt he was Bob, for their energies and looks were profoundly alike. In time, i would grow to cherish their differences, too. Tony asked me to play Reuben and Tarik, which was a casting option i hadn't known they were considering. To simultaneously play a Jewish fanatic and an Arab fanatic, the two characters who embodied the region's destructive hatred, was a fascinating idea. The play had been awarded a Kennedy Center grant, of which only three are given each year. I was hooked, and signed on. A fantastic cast fell into place. Playing Asher was New Yorker Don Harvey, whose laid-back intensity and humor i was instantly simpatico with. He'd had roles in a number of films, notably DIE HARD, EIGHT MEN OUT, and the half-delightfully atrocious TANK GIRL. He and i chummed around during the run. Robert played Samir, the arab mechanic. He hadn't sought the role, but was undeniably perfect for it. Kelly Parker played various supporting parts, and was a funny delight as always. Leanne Braman from ANDROCLES played Lila and Mouna, the wives of Asher and Samir. Her quirkiness and humor were a downright hoot. I (and others) were originally concerned that she wasn’t right for the parts, but eventually we couldn't imagine anyone else playing them. New Yorker Stephen Jones played several parts, chiefly the interrogator and the general. He was fantastic company, and a great talent. At first i'd been cast as co-interrogator, but Tony eventually decided to write out that part, saying it wasn't a reflection on my acting. I also played a newsman's voice, and Asher's sergeant (a nothing part i grew to love). I had many quick changes, and wore a yarmulke under my arab hat. Playing the rabbi was local actor Chuck Hilton. We hit it off wonderfully, and he gave an understated, fantastic performance. One of my fondest memories came during rehearsal. Chuck, Don, and i were in the lobby. They were running lines. I'd heard Don give a piss-funny impersonation of Brando's Godfather, and also knew that Chuck did a creditable Jimmy Stewart, so i had the two of them do their scene, a polemic debate, with those accents. We couldn't stop laughing. The final cast member was April Poland as Rebecca, Samir's half-jewish daughter. We instantly felt comfortable with one another. A couple weeks into rehearsal, i moved into a cast house with her and Stephen. She and i worked out and biked together, and it was a delight to be with a woman who could keep up with me athletically (i'd always fantasized about loving just such a woman). She was funny, smart, passionate, talented, and i sweetly fell in love. But timing is perhaps everything - she had been married that year. She opened up so much to me. She found herself having to be the mature one in her marriage, and liked how she didn't have to be that with me, venting away like a complaining child. He visited once. He was a fine fellow, but i instantly felt i could offer her a stronger peace of mind. They were moving to central Pennsylvania, as she tried to find a balance between working actress and preacher's wife. One night, after an hour or three of talking, i asked her if she would like to spend the night holding each other non-sexually. She said she couldn't. Another night, i sat on the porch after she went to bed, with my circle-of-friends candle flickering nearby. Her room had a door onto the porch, and i sat there for hours, listening to the beautiful night sounds of island nature. The production itself was very special. As Reuben, i went to extreme measures to get the arab defilers off our holy land. One of my favorite scenes was when i’d been arrested. Asher's making me try to see reason, but all i see is my faith. As i'm escorted off, i'm screaming "What about the side of God?!  What about the side of God?!!"  The lines carried us both offstage, where Don would mock-wince and break up laughing at my assault on his ears. I also had a speech on top of a platform, telling the audience of the spirits of my ancestors. I had the idea to punctuate the speech by jumping off the eight-foot platform. It was powerful. As Tarik, i was a reluctant terrorist. At one of the audience talkbacks, i tried to explain how i saw him as not nearly the extremist Reuben was. But most of the audience couldn't get my point, likening a fire bomber to a moderate. I had a second interrogation scene with Don, after Tarik’s arrest. During rehearsals, Don and i would sometimes crack up when we got into each other's faces. The show affected audiences. Tony's direction was wonderful, his presence gentle and non-controlling. We were visited during rehearsals by the playwright. She was a sweetie, but she and Tony couldn't agree on further text cuts. She allowed some, but never enough in my opinion. I sent her some more suggested edits a year later, and she sent back a gracious letter, saying that she'd had similar thoughts. Leanne's mamoul-making Mouna had only a couple offstage lines, but those lines had an unintended comedic element, which the cast delighted in. April had trouble with some of her scenes, and it was generally agreed that the writing was betraying her, not the other way around. She was so very dedicated, and got so frustrated trying to make it work. We all tried to help. I climbed into the rafters to watch her on many nights, so i could give her continuing feedback. I gave her some readings as Asher, which she felt a little more comfortable with, so she wasn't always thrilled with what Don was giving her either. The comic highlight of the play was Steven and Chuck as the Baradis, arab fugitives running around and hiding behind rocks. They were never meant to be funny, but Chuck's stage whisper had a distinctly un-stealthy quality, and there was something just generally Pythonesque about their running and crouching behavior. I played a jewish soldier pursuing them with gun and flashlight, and that was comical too, for Chuck had trouble crouching in his arab attire. Even though i never “find” them, i had to literally leap over Chuck a couple of nights. Humor aside, it was a great bit of physical acting...running through the set, up the steps, out into the lobby, and then re-entering on the other side of the theater, still shouting and running. For the audience, the scene fortunately stayed serious. One night Chuck flubbed his Baradi lines, saying something about a village driving into a truck. Those bumbling Baradi boys, they were great. I joked about the show's sequel being BARADI: THE MUSICAL, with such songs as "Who put the Flags Up?" (sung to the tune "Who Let the Dogs Out?"). Kelly and April also played dancing jewish maidens, teaching children. They were on a platform, and i hid in a dark corridor near them to watch (a trick requiring considerable stealth). They didn't see me just a couple feet away, and i didn't tell them until late in the run that i was sometimes there. Their earnestness as they tried to dance on the too-small platform, going on about how seven (and eight, too!) were powerful numbers, was just a little comical, and even ever-so-faintly homoerotic. My final character, Asher's sergeant (whom i named Gad Gissin) was a wonderful way to end the show. I played him as sympathetic to Asher's humanistic leanings, and was the character onstage dealing with Asher's breakdown. I had done a unibrow for my earlier characters, but then two brows for Gad (Don noticed this after about three weeks). It was also fun wearing the soldier uniform, with beret and sidearm and all. Reviews were generally quite good, usually focusing on Marilyn, Don, and Robert. I probably received the most notice of any of the supporting actors. But i also got a lesson (not that i needed it) in how subjective reviews are. One scribe opined that my two extremists were so indistinguishable, he thought they were the same character. Another was certain that two different actors were playing the parts. When the show ended and we all said heartfelt goodbyes, i was the only one staying on Sanibel to do another show. There was poignance in this, as i thought about impermanence and the vagabond quality of theater life. The day April left, i bought a rose and decided to give it to the first woman i came across, to honor my feelings. It turned out to be a librarian, and i'm pretty sure i made her day. At that moment, i thought i would do that every year on that date, for the rest of my life. But time goes on, and i didn't.

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