(no subject)
The Setting Sun is Rising
By Megan Elizabeth Abraham
The Setting Sun, by twenty-nine year-old writer/drama teacher Charlie Marenghi, is having its world premiere with J & L Center Stage Inc. this month at the DLRCA. Mr. Marenghi returns to J&L after having written/directed the 2001 production of We Drew the Sky. For this production, Marenghi, who now lives in Massachusetts, teamed with director Sheryl Weiss (who performed in “Sky” {Friedl Dicker-Brandeis}). The play was written two years ago, and after several staged readings (video taped and mailed to MA) and four revisions, this dramatic work is ready to meet audiences.
A story about a family whose members span three generations, and with a running time of one hour and forty-eight minutes (including intermission), The Setting Sun is a show that mature teens and adults of all ages can appreciate. The action begins on Christmas Eve and continues until shortly after Christmas. The parents, Tom and Sue (Peter Richman and Sally Hogarty) have three grown children. Their daughter, Jo (beautifully honest portrayal by Rhonda Taylor) and her daughter, Clare (the adorable, hostile teen, Kelsey Ritter) are struggling out of Jo’s failed marriage to Frank (Ed Pieczenik). Jo’s supportive brother, Bobby (endearing Scott Searby), returns home for the holidays, with his girlfriend Erica (Heidi Hanson). Bobby’s big brother, Mickey (Ted D’Agostino) arrives late and drunk. Add to the group a great-aunt, Silvie, (charming June Russell) and you have a comedic family, replete with quirks, qualms and quarrels. Weiss summarized the plot in her director’s notes: “…A powerful and moving portrait of one family and their struggle to preserve themselves. It is a hopeful portrayal of how in the face of tragedy a family can come together to heal.”
The Setting Sun contains heavy content but Weiss maintained the delicate balance between keeping the intensity level bearable and yet not sugar-coating the pain and shock of trauma. Transitional music by artists such as The Momma’s and the Papa’s and Bob Dylan regulated the mood and flow of the show. Set by Andy Foreman was effective. Even on preview night, tech. ran smoothly (especially impressive because stage manager, Rebecca Cohn, had been assigned the task of running tech two days before preview.) The dialog included an offensively gratuitous amount of profanity, including myriad variations of “Jesus Christ” (Hence: “suggested audience, mature teens and older”). Another distraction was that much of act one felt forced. In retrospect, it appears that the idea was to contrast the first act with the second, but in a space as intimate as the Knight Stage III, many early moments felt awkward and contrived. However, after intermission, the more ambitious, “post trauma” scenes were, in refreshing juxtaposition to the earlier, entirely believable. The cast of nine draws the audience into the text, so that they abandon outside stresses and become engrossed in the plot. By the final scene, audience members realize with the characters, through “A light that’s been shined on all of us. On this mess we’ve made our lives.” that they have been “Drifting through life, living from moment to moment.”
Upon being asked why people should come to see the show, Mr. Marenghi shared that people should attend for what they will leave with. “I would hope that they leave feeling that they could effect change, and (know that) it’s not too late to do that-and it doesn’t necessarily take a tragedy for us to wake up and be good to each other.”
By Megan Elizabeth Abraham
The Setting Sun, by twenty-nine year-old writer/drama teacher Charlie Marenghi, is having its world premiere with J & L Center Stage Inc. this month at the DLRCA. Mr. Marenghi returns to J&L after having written/directed the 2001 production of We Drew the Sky. For this production, Marenghi, who now lives in Massachusetts, teamed with director Sheryl Weiss (who performed in “Sky” {Friedl Dicker-Brandeis}). The play was written two years ago, and after several staged readings (video taped and mailed to MA) and four revisions, this dramatic work is ready to meet audiences.
A story about a family whose members span three generations, and with a running time of one hour and forty-eight minutes (including intermission), The Setting Sun is a show that mature teens and adults of all ages can appreciate. The action begins on Christmas Eve and continues until shortly after Christmas. The parents, Tom and Sue (Peter Richman and Sally Hogarty) have three grown children. Their daughter, Jo (beautifully honest portrayal by Rhonda Taylor) and her daughter, Clare (the adorable, hostile teen, Kelsey Ritter) are struggling out of Jo’s failed marriage to Frank (Ed Pieczenik). Jo’s supportive brother, Bobby (endearing Scott Searby), returns home for the holidays, with his girlfriend Erica (Heidi Hanson). Bobby’s big brother, Mickey (Ted D’Agostino) arrives late and drunk. Add to the group a great-aunt, Silvie, (charming June Russell) and you have a comedic family, replete with quirks, qualms and quarrels. Weiss summarized the plot in her director’s notes: “…A powerful and moving portrait of one family and their struggle to preserve themselves. It is a hopeful portrayal of how in the face of tragedy a family can come together to heal.”
The Setting Sun contains heavy content but Weiss maintained the delicate balance between keeping the intensity level bearable and yet not sugar-coating the pain and shock of trauma. Transitional music by artists such as The Momma’s and the Papa’s and Bob Dylan regulated the mood and flow of the show. Set by Andy Foreman was effective. Even on preview night, tech. ran smoothly (especially impressive because stage manager, Rebecca Cohn, had been assigned the task of running tech two days before preview.) The dialog included an offensively gratuitous amount of profanity, including myriad variations of “Jesus Christ” (Hence: “suggested audience, mature teens and older”). Another distraction was that much of act one felt forced. In retrospect, it appears that the idea was to contrast the first act with the second, but in a space as intimate as the Knight Stage III, many early moments felt awkward and contrived. However, after intermission, the more ambitious, “post trauma” scenes were, in refreshing juxtaposition to the earlier, entirely believable. The cast of nine draws the audience into the text, so that they abandon outside stresses and become engrossed in the plot. By the final scene, audience members realize with the characters, through “A light that’s been shined on all of us. On this mess we’ve made our lives.” that they have been “Drifting through life, living from moment to moment.”
Upon being asked why people should come to see the show, Mr. Marenghi shared that people should attend for what they will leave with. “I would hope that they leave feeling that they could effect change, and (know that) it’s not too late to do that-and it doesn’t necessarily take a tragedy for us to wake up and be good to each other.”