The Profane

B+

This new family drama with comic overtones by Zayd Dohrn (Outside People), now at Playwrights Horizons, deals with two New York Muslim-American immigrant families, forced to confront their cultural and religious differences by the possibility of a marriage between family members. The Almeddins are a secular, liberal, cosmopolitan family living in Greenwich Village. The father, Raif (Ali Reza Farahnakian), is a novelist. who usually writes about life in exile. Naja (Heather Raffo), his wife, is a former dancer. Their scrappy elder daughter Aisa (Francis Benhamou), in her late 20s, is also a dancer, but is now working as a bartender and living at home. Younger daughter Emina (the radiant Tala Ashe of  The Who and the What) is at school in Syracuse where she falls in love with Sam Osman (Babak Tafti of Small Mouth Sounds), son of a religious Muslim family. Act One takes place at the Almeddin apartment over Thanksgiving weekend, when Emina brings Sam home to meet her family and surprise them with the news of their engagement. There are intimations of secrets in both families. Act Two takes place several months later at the lavish Osman home in White Plains, where the Almeddins have come to meet their future in-laws. Peter Osman (Ramsey Faragallah), owner of a restaurant supply business, is a jovial man who tries hard to put his guests at ease. His wife Carmen (Lanna Joffrey) is uptight and grudgingly polite to them. We also meet Dania (Francis Benhamou again), the young woman living with them who prefers to stay out of sight. The evening does not end well. At play’s end we are back in Raif’s study for a scene that, for me, was a letdown and diminished my appreciation. Most of the characters are vividly written, to the degree that I was eager to know more about their stories. Many of the family relationships ring true. As a non-Muslim, Dorhn was bold to write the play; perhaps his outsider status adds to the universality of its themes. I am ambivalent about the title and a plot point that increases the drama but clouds the message. The set by Takeshi Kata creates two attractive but quite different homes. (Stick around during intermission to watch the interesting set change.) Jessica Pabst’s costumes are appropriate to the characters. The direction by Kip Fagan (Grand Concourse, Kingdom Come) is unfussy. I was thoroughly caught up in the play until the final scene. I wish the author had come up with a stronger ending. Running time: one hour 55 minutes including intermission.

Man from Nebraska

C

Four years before Tracy Letts wrote Pulitzer Prize winner “August: Osage County,” he wrote another play that was nominated for the Pulitzer, this one. After seeing the play, I can understand why it took over 13 years to reach New York. It is a play that will provoke wildly divergent reactions. What some will regard as alternately droll and touching, others will find merely banal and tedious. My own reaction falls somewhere in between. I never pass up a chance to see the work of actor Reed Birney (“The Humans”), playwright Letts or director David Cromer (“The Band’s Visit”). Birney plays Ken Carpenter, a 60-something insurance man from Lincoln, Nebraska who faces a sudden crisis of faith. We see him and his wife Nancy (Annette O’Toole) on a typical Sunday on the way to church, during the service, at a cafeteria, visiting Ken’s physically and mentally declining mother (Kathleen Peirce) at her nursing home, watching tv and going to bed. During the night Ken begins weeping uncontrollably and tells Nancy that he no longer believes in God. His uptight married daughter Ashley (Annika Boras) is less than supportive. Reverend Todd (William Ragsdale) counsels Ken to take a vacation alone. He decides to go to London which he had enjoyed 40 years before when he was in the Air Force. On the flight, he meets Pat (Heidi Armbruster), a predatory divorcee with a taste for bondage who seduces him. At his hotel, he strikes up a friendship of sorts with the lovely black bartender Tamyra (Nana Mensah). Eventually he meets her sculptor flatmate Harry (Max Gordon Moore) and takes lessons from him. Back at home, lonely and depressed Nancy starts spending a lot of time with Reverend Todd’s father Bud (Tom Bloom). Ken’s reception upon his return is uncertain. The play’s episodic structure does not seem organic. Birney, as always, is superb. Mensah is also strong. O”Toole, to me at least, seemed mannered. The set by Takeshi Kata makes full use of Second Stage’s wide stage, with furniture lined up against the back wall brought forward as needed. The top two-thirds of the back wall is covered by sometimes illuminated clouds that are both fluffy and ominous. The costumes by Sarah Laux suit their characters well. Particularly in the first act, director Cromer lets scenes breathe longer than some can easily tolerate. I predict that you will have a strong reaction to the play. Whether it will be negative or positive is the question. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes, including intermission.

Off the Main Road -- at Williamstown Theatre Festival ***

For her first production, Williamstown Theatre Festival’s new artistic director Mindy Greenfield has made an interesting choice — presenting the world premiere of a William Inge play written in the 1960’s but never staged. It is hard to believe now that Inge was once mentioned in the same breath as Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams as one of our top playwrights. His reputation fell far and fast. Although conventional wisdom has it that most lost plays have been lost for good reason, WTF was smart to bring this deeply flawed but rarely dull play to the stage. It presents both Inge’s strengths — astute observation of Midwesterners and vivid portraits of female characters — and his weaknesses — unconvincing male characters and a penchant for melodrama. Kyra Sedgwick plays Faye Garrit. While still in her teens, she was forced by her overbearing mother (played by Estelle Parsons, amazing at 87) to marry a wealthy older man. Upon his death, to her mother’s horror, she met and married a popular baseball player Manny Garrit (Jeremy Davidson). Now, 10 years later, Manny is no longer a player and sometimes becomes abusive when he drinks. As the play opens, after getting a black eye from Manny, she has fled to a resort cabin not far from the city with Julia (an excellent Mary Wiseman), her daughter from her first marriage, who is attending a convent school. Sparks fly between Julia and Vic Burns (a fine Daniel Sharman), son of the landlady (Becky Ann Baker, virtually wasted here). Faye often spends time with a gay art dealer Jimmy Woodford (Howard W. Overshown), a friend since childhood. Faye’s impulsive fling with an oversexed taxi driver, Gino (Aaron Costa Ganis), has unanticipated consequences. Kyra Sedgwick has too strong a personality to easily play an aimless, indecisive woman, but she does her best. The play has some humorous moments, some of which were probably unintentional. The idea that a domineering mother would produce a daughter who becomes a neglectful mother whose own daughter develops a deep hunger for certainty in her life seemed psychologically convincing. I wish the play hadn’t descended into overwrought melodrama, but that’s Inge for you. The set design by Takeshi Kata and costumes by Paloma Young are fine. Evan Cabnet’s direction is assured. Running time 2 hours 10 minutes including intermission. (Closed)

Gloria ****

No one can accuse Obie winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate, An Octoroon) of repeating himself. Each of his three plays that I have seen creates its own world completely unlike that of the other two. His latest play, now at Vineyard Theatre, draws upon his experience working at the New Yorker for a few years. For the first 45 minutes, the play seems to be a witty workplace satire about assistants at a prestigious magazine. Then the mood abruptly shifts, to put it mildly. To say more would spoil your experience. The remainder of the play depicts the effects of a life-changing event on some of the people who experienced it and raises this question: when something newsworthy happens, who “owns” the story? The playwright also paints an unflattering picture of today's media scene in which stories become mere fodder for the ravenous film/television/social media/publishing beast. In Act One we meet three editorial assistants — Dean (Ryan Spahn), Ani (Catherine Combs) and Kendra (Jennifer Kim); Miles (Kyle Beltran, who made such a strong impression in Fortress of Solitude), a college intern; Lorin (Michael Crane), a somewhat older fact checker; and the title character (Jeanine Serralles, recently in Verite), a socially awkward longtime employee from another department. Each character is vividly sketched and the dialogue rings true. The first act is literally a tough act to follow. In the second act, all the actors except Crane play one or more new characters. The excellent cast is adept at changing roles. One of the play’s strengths is that, at any given moment, I had no idea where it was heading. The scenic design by Takeshi Kata captures the sterility of the modern cubicled office. The costumes by Ilona Somogyi are unobtrusively apt. Evan Cabnet’s direction is rock solid. In case there was any doubt, Jacobs-Jenkins demonstrates that he belongs in the first rank of contemporary American iplaywrights. Running time: 2 hours including intermission.

Forever **

Dael Orlandersmith is a poet, playwright and actress with a long association with New York Theatre Workshop where this autobiographical solo piece is now in previews. In it she describes the painful process of replacing her terrible biological family, in particular her cruel alcoholic mother, with a chosen family of the artists who inspired her, including Richard Wright and Jim Morrison, who are laid to rest in Paris’s Pere Lachaise Cemetery. The play opens with a long scene describing her visit there (too long for me apparently as I nodded off for about ten minutes). She recalls scenes from her early years in Harlem. Fortunately I awoke in time to hear her absolutely harrowing story of being raped by an intruder in the middle of the night when she was 14. A bit of levity is introduced by her telling of a crush on a handsome Irish cop who was kind to her and her fantasy of running off to Ireland with him. Even her rape could not alter her mother’s inability to give her the attention she deserved. She is unsparing in describing her own understandably cruel behavior toward her monstrous mother. A little rage goes a long way and, for me at least, hers went too far. We eventually return to the cemetery in Paris where she provides a not too convincing sign of making peace with her late mother’s memory. Takeshi Kata’s simple set has a raised platform with a table with a phonograph and two chairs; the surrounding walls have panels covered with family photographs. The theater is lined with similar panels on which the audience is invited to post messages about people influential in their lives who have passed on. Mary Louise Geiger’s lighting design is very effective. Neel Keller directed. I thought that Ms. Orlandersmith’s impressive performance exceeded her accomplishment as playwright. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.

Storefront Church ***

(Please click on the title to see the full review.) 
The final installment of John Patrick Shanley's Church and State trilogy, now in previews at the newly reopened Atlantic Theater mainstage, is quite different from the other two plays, first of all in length. It has two leisurely acts over two hours as compared to their economical 90 minutes. Although not as good as Doubt (not many plays are), it is much better than Defiance. Actors must love Shanley; he certainly can write a juicy part. All six actors get a chance to shine here. Tonya Pinkins, who made such a strong impression in both Milk Like Sugar and Hurt Village earlier this season, gets to use a Spanish accent and show off her beautiful singing voice. Poor Zach Grenier has to keep his face grotesquely contorted throughout the play. The role of Pinkins's Jewish husband fits Bob Dishy like a glove. Ron Cephas Jones, who also impressed in Hurt Village, portrays a pentecostal minister who is spiritually blocked. Jordan Lage is both amusing and convincing as a bank CEO. The central character is Giancarlo Esposito, as the Bronx borough president. The action takes place at the intersection of politics, religion and commerce. It is loosely based on the controversy over redeveloping the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx (which still sits empty today), as well as the current mortgage crisis. The play has its flaws -- it rambles a bit, some of the motivations are unclear (particular those of Pinkins' character), some of the themes are underdeveloped and the final scene doesn't pack as much punch as I hoped it would. The sets by Takeshi Kata are bland, perhaps deliberately so, but the costumes by Alejo Vietti are perfect. Shanley's direction is assured. and full of grace notes.  Although far from perfect, it is consistently entertaining. I urge you to see it.