As The Rabbi Said: THINK TWICE at Spotlighters

            As the rabbi said, "Eh, it's only a contradiction!"

            There is much wisdom in this expression for, as any veteran of life can tell you, reality is rarely black and white; what is truth today is falsehood tomorrow and vice versa.  As playwright Rich Espey notes in his play, "Sapiens!" one of two one-act, one-man pieces now at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, is it possible to keep opposing ideas in one's mind at the same time?

            Yes, it is. And this is at least one lesson of Think Twice, the engaging theatrical doubleheader featuring actors Rodney Bonds and Joshua Snowden.

            Think Twice opens with Bonds as a nervous, self-effacing music professor, author of The Psychosexualis Musicalis, who explores in "Lecture, With Cello," the contradictory nature of this instrument which finds its roots in the 16th century.

            "The cello is an instrument of bliss, with the promise of articulated joy," Bonds' "Man" declares in a reverie as much to himself as to those attending his lecture. While there is much said about the cello-the best woods come from Olive Groves; the bass viola da gamba preceded the cello - there is something else clearly going on here, something hinted at in Bonds' discussion of the "security and tension" so necessary to make the strings sing, how the top of the cello "curves in upon itself like a secret that will never unfold," the violence that must be perpetrated upon the wood to "fold and mold" it into something beautiful.

            Bonds equates the cello's sound to a gallbladder operation before the days of anesthesia--the moans, crying, screams-while a 16th century sketching of the blood spattered operation is shown on the stage's elevated flatscreens. It's not the first time blood is shown, as Bonds produced a plastic bag filled with what appears to be a cat's "bloody guts," though he claims to be only "string and ketchup," to make the point about "catgut" from which the cello's strings were supposedly made, but that is, we are told, a falsehood. "Cat gut" refers to an Italian phrase meaning "string-tension." And there is plenty of tension here, as we wonder, what is behind this lecture, this performance of a tuxedoed, fastidious middle-aged man who claims the cello was invented by "goldsmith, murderer" Benvenuto Cellini, who grips, hands shaking, strands of blonde hair in his hands like a garrote...and who is the mysterious, trenchcoated man Bonds keeps referring to "in the back" of the lecture hall?

            "Lecture, with Cello" ends in a crescendo of strobe lights and violence-or is it violins? Or are the two the same?-and the revelation of a dark secret. "Every instrument will tell you its story," Man says. "Listen and all will be revealed."

            Following a 15 minute intermission, the audience is then transported to another lecture, this one of a much different kind, as Joshua Snowden portrays high school instructor Adam in Rich Espey's play, "Sapiens."

            The play opens with a look at "The Parable of Angela," as Adam presents an image to the audience (now transformed into his high school class), and asks, "What do you see?" Depending on how your brain works, you may see a young lady...or an old woman. "How many of you see both?" Adam asks, and the theme of the play is set-can one hold what appear to be two mutually opposing ideas in one's mind at the same time?

            In Espey's play, those two conflicting notions are the concepts of Evolution and Creationism. Snowden plays multiple roles, from Adam the teacher, to his wife, Karen; to students in his class, the school principal, his Australian college roommate-astrophysicist-lay-minister, to the characters in the "parable of Angela," a young woman who is either cursed or blessed or both (again, contradictory notions holding sway simultaneously) by giving birth to children with congenital defects.

            What's God's will in these cases? Is having a child born with "Mermaid Syndrome" due to DNA abnormalities "part of God's plan"? Perhaps the question is, not why do things go wrong, but how is it that, so very often, things go right?

            These two plays match up very well together, both giving the audience much to ponder and enjoy by two riveting performances. While both plays feature only a single actor, there are multiple roles to be played, even in the case of "Lecture, With Cello," as Rodney Bonds (also director)'s Man is musician, teacher, historian, lover of life and truth, a husband betrayed. Snowden does an exemplary job of transforming himself into his varied roles by subtle changes in voice and volume, in body language, in the way he moves across the stage.

            Think Twice, featuring "Lecture, With Cello" and "Sapiens!" continues its run at Spotlighters, 817 Saint Paul Street, now through June 27^th. For tickets and more information, call 410-752-1225 or visit www.spotlighters.org.

 

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