March 3, 2006 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9
eveningsout
An unlikeable character is the heart of a likeable play
by Anthony Glassman
Cleveland-Frank is, quite frankly, a
schmuck.
Working in "construction," he's a seething bundle of rage, violence barely concealed beneath a veneer of slight civilization.
He has to be in control at all times. He likes his women suppliant, and for men to fear him. In all honesty, he has few redeeming qualities.
Fortunately, Frank is going to die right before your eyes.
The titular character of the Dobama Night Kitchen production of Stephen Belber's play The Death of Frank is hardly the protagonist of the piece, and is far from the most likable of the cast. However, he is the axis around which the play turns.
The Death of Frank, though, is told primarily from the point of view of Peter, a young gardener whose love of his older sister Natalie goes just slightly beyond what is socially acceptable, whether or not Peter is willing to admit it.
The idealistic young man, whose "exploration" of his sexuality results in his discov-
ADRIENNE MOON
Sadie Grossman and Thomas White
ery that it is completely fluid, takes an immediate dislike to Frank when Natalie starts dating him. Frank tries to smooth things over, but his efforts are to no avail.
Things seem to be looking up when Peter starts dating Lynn, who at one point describes herself as a (excuse the amusingly bad and very old pun) "cunning linguist." With something or someone-to do besides obsessing over the seemingly doomed relationship between Frank and his sister, Peter relaxes and becomes a little bit... well, more sane.
Then Natalie comes home with a black eye. Peter flies into a rage and touches off a series of events that leads to Frank's literal death, Natalie's figurative one, and Peter's descent into a life of loneliness.
But it's not a memory piece, at least that's what Peter claims, and it's not a tragedy, because Peter doesn't like those kinds of plays.
Of course, just because the plot makes The Fall of the House of Usher look like a feelgood Disney flick doesn't mean that it isn't a fun play. Belber's writing is witty, if sometimes a bit baroque.
What really makes The Death of Frank stand out in this production is the actors. Thomas White as Peter brings a manic energy that belies the seemingly innocent front of the character, and Sadie Grossman as his sister Natalie is quietly impressive in her role.
The love interests Frank (Joseph Milan) and Lynn (Jodi Brinkman) also exhibit really
Away they go
apt casting. Milan's imposing physique fits Frank perfectly, especially in comparison to White's slender form, and Brinkman's intellectual air and resemblance to a young Katherine Helmond make her the perfect opposite to Frank's anti-intellectual brutishness.
The fact that she carries a gun creates a sharp contrast to her image, but as the play draws to a close, one never knows until the last moment who kills Frank.
Regardless of whodunit, they've all done it well, a credit to director Adrienne Moon, artistic director of the Night Kitchen.
The Death of Frank will play Fridays through Sundays until March 12. Showtimes are 9 pm on Friday and Saturday, 2:30 pm on Sunday. Tickets are $8, $5 for students, and the production is being staged at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 2592 West 14th Street in Cleveland. For tickets or more information, call 216-932-3396 or go to www.dobama.org.
Mark (Kip Pardue) wonders about the fate of loggerhead turtles, his adopted children, while his own adopted mother and biological mother wonder about the son they have lost in the film Loggerheads, showing at the Cleveland Institute of Art's Cinematheque.
The film interweaves three storylines, one from Mark's perspective, one from that of his adoptive mother Elizabeth (Tess Harper), and the one of Grace (Bonnie Hunt), his biological mother, whose quest for the child she gave up eventually leads the three back together.
Loggerheads will play at 5:30 pm on Saturday, March 4 and 4:15 pm on Sunday, March 5. Tickets are $8, $5 for CIA students and staff or Cinematheque members. The Cinematheque is located at 11141 East Blvd. in University Circle, and can be reached at 216-421-7450 or online at www.cia.edu/cinematheque.
A post-9/11 view
Tony Kushner looks pensive in a still from Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner, a documentary playing on March 26 as part of the Cleveland International Film Festival.
The film, directed by Freida Lee Mock, follows Kushner for the three years between the September 11 terrorist attacks and the 2004 election. It is one of the festival's few offerings with only a single screening, and the most notably gay-themed one that is not part of the traditional 10% Cinema.
Given the political slant almost always present in his works, including Angels in America and A Bright Room Called Day, the movie examines the effect the political climate has on the writer's creative process and output.
The film will be shown at 5 pm on Sunday, March 26 at the Tower City Cinemas on Public Square. For more information or to buy tickets, call 866-865-3456 or go to www.clevelandfilm.org.
Code
Continued from facing page varied career. Are there pieces of theater or film you want to do or people you'd like to work with?
I want to do more Shakespeare. More Chekhov. I would love to do a sharp comedy like the British version of The Office, not the formulaic American ones. I would love to work with Martin Scorcese again having worked with him on The Age of Innocence. I want to work with this young director of Junebug, Phil Morrison. I want to work for young new directors who have no respect for you.
Why is that?
-Anthony Glassman
Because they make you do things that you haven't expected yourself to do. They push you.
Are you happy with where you are, professionally and personally?
Not at all. (laughing) I want to be more important.
The Importance of Being Earnest will be at the Southern Theater, 21 East Main Street in Columbus from March 9 to 12. Showtimes are
8
pm March 9 11 and 2 pm on March 11 and 12. Tickets are $37, $47, and $57. Call 614431-3600 or 614-469-0939 for reservations or more information.
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