Sarah Kane's CRAVE To Run At Egg & Spoon

There's an important reason why Sarah Kane is not the most universally beloved playwright of the latter half of the 20th century. The elements of her work which fuel her disgusted critics and disgruntled audiences are the exact elements of her work which make her one of the most revolutionary writers in the world of theatre. With plays such as BLASTED, PHAEDRA'S LOVE, CLEANSED, 4.48 PSYCHOSIS, and CRAVE, Sarah Kane changed the art form with her violence, her filterless abuse, but more importantly, her honesty.

Some staff and friends of Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective sat around a living room in Harlem last year, to read CRAVE. The air in the apartment changed when the language leapt off the page. It was unmistakeable. "We knew, deep down, that some young director should have the chance to approach the challenge," Liam Lonegan, Egg & Spoon's Artistic Director, said. "The play is a blank canvas of powerful language, and needed really determined and hungry artists to take it on. Those artists can be found at Egg & Spoon - those artists are who The Collective was created for."

Four voices emerge from a void, desperate to seek freedom in a world of familiar anxieties and addictions. There is no linear story, the characters aren't named (only by letters), and relationships disappear as quickly as they're created. CRAVE ends up being a stage poem which audiences have opened their minds and hearts to since the piece was written in 1998, one year before Kane's suicide.

"Kane's language is at times gruesome-and uses childhood trauma, toxic love, and addiction to explore the breakdown of the mind," says director Adam Coy. "Her work is relentless in its attacks on the failure of the human condition, but remains guided by the hope of change." It feels like that is what's important here, as well. That even though it's clear that the violence and aggression and ruthlessness which Kane puts on stage is her truth, it is never without a search for the better, for freedom, for the light.

CRAVE by Sarah Kane - November 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th at Access Theater (380 Broadway, 4th Floor). Produced by Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective (Liam Lonegan, Artistic Director; Elizabeth Carson, Managing Director). The production is directed by Adam Coy, and features Daniel Chavarriaga, Jack O'Brien, Morgan Price and Kenny Hahn. Scenic design is by Steven Medina, with lighting design by Andy LiDestri, costume design by Jessica Crawford, and sound design by Louis Coy and Jack O'Brien. Production Manager is Timmy Gage and Stage Manager is Yve Carruthers.

Tickets available at www.eggandspoontheatre.org/crave/