Review: The Actors' Gang's THE NEW COLOSSUS - An Artful Puzzlement
By: Gil Kaan Feb. 23, 2018
THE NEW COLOSSUS/by The Actors' Gang Ensemble & Tim Robbins/directed by Tim Robbins/The Actors' Gang/thru March 24, 2018
One must applaud Tim Robbins and his Actors' Gang troupe for their passionate, timely presentation of the immigrant plight in their struggles to reach a better life in America. Currently world premiering at The Actors' Gang, Robbins and his cast of twelve performers have created twelve characters they each have familiarity with in THE NEW COLOSSUS. This production may best be described as a performance art piece with the vital message of inclusion, featuring an abundance of stylized running in circles, impressionistic miming and overlapping monologues in various foreign languages (at times accompanied by projected subtitles at the very top of the backstage wall). As Robbins directs THE NEW COLOSSUS, no character or performer in this very committed ensemble stand out, as the message of THE NEW COLOSSUS seems to be "Everyone's equal and alike." Unlike previous Actors' Gang productions (such as THE EXONERATED and 1984 in which the audience get to know the unique stories of each character), the individual backstories of these twelve disparate characters from different countries do not reveal themselves until after the curtain call, which presents more information on the characters than anything proceeding it. (A most complementary, pre-show touch in the theatre lobby - a board with a world map on which waiting audience members can pin their respective country of origin.)
THE NEW COLOSSUS begins promisingly with the twelve refugees in their assorted peasant clothing crisscrossing the stage, packing up their various suitcases and backpacks. When they finally speak their individual, very brief introductions; they overlap in their foreign tongues, (sometimes in English). Then they all run wordlessly in a clockwise circle around the stage, at times some leaving the circle while others join - for fifteen minutes. Fortunately, Mikala Schmitz deftly provides lovely mood musical background on her haunting cello, with David Robbins expertly working his bodhrun drum, wood blocks and guitar. Think a live orchestra playing an accompanying soundtrack for a silent movie, that's Schmitz and Robbins. Very nice.
Communication between this group of travelers' minimal, if at all, for another half hour or so. Not sure the characters understand the different languages spoken to their faces. Not much is learnt about these twelve people who fled their respective countries for America. Only snippets of revealed backgrounds tease the audience in the nicely choreographed chorus of expositions, with different voices making themselves heard at different times over the orchestrated walla.
Cihan Sahin's projections on the uneven brick walls make for unclear images that confuse rather than complement the situation on stage. As lighting designer Jason Lovett does not spotlight performers speaking, a moment or two is required to figure out from whom the voice comes from.
These most impassioned performers include: Pierre Adeli as his father, Onur Alpsen as his friend Mehmet Fatih Tras, Quonta Beasley as her great-great-great-great aunt combined with research on post-slavery Reconstruction, Kayla Blake as her mother, Kathryn Cecelia Carner as her great-grandmother, Jeanette Rothschild Horn as her grandmother, Dora Kiss as a woman based on her grandmother, Stephanie Lee as a woman based on her mother and grandmother, Mary Eileen O'Donnell as a woman based on her research, Zivko Petkovic as his grandfather, Mashka Wolfe as her mother, and Paulette Zubata as her mother's friend.
Only the most stone-hearted would not be sympathetic to the immigrants' sobering dilemma. Possibly more empathy would result with the further personalization of the singular characters. And with less running.
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