UPPER LIP to Play Theater for the New City, 5/2-19

Theater for the New City presents "The Upper Lip," an adaptation by playwright/director David Willinger of William Saroyan's forgotten 1951 novel, "Rock Wagram." The piece has its premiere run May 2 to 19, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM. The running time is 1:30. Critics are invited on or after May 4.

The book is the story of an Armenian-American bartender, Arak Vagramian, who is discovered by a Hollywood film executive and vaults to fame as a film star with the name Rock Wagram. After 14 middling romantic movies, he recognizes himself as lost in the quagmire of Tinseltown and enlists in the Army, anticipating service in World War II. Before his induction, he drives home to Fresno, CA to reconnect with his Armenian family, particularly its matriarch, his grandmother Lula. She convinces him to dive into a romantic relationship with a young New York socialite named Ann Ford that contains his doom. The rest of the novel charts his postwar life, when his marriage has failed and his film career has aborted. The book contains numerous, lengthy dialogue segments that are on a par with Saroyan's best dramatic writing from "The Time of Your Life," "Hello Out There" and "The Beautiful People."

The play's title, "The Upper Lip," is a reference to the book's discussion of an Armenian man's mustache, symbolizing everything Rock lost in Hollywood and America that was authentic in his modest beginnings. This will be a multimedia production, integrating live and filmed action in creative ways: evoking Visual Environments for stage action and flashbacks of Rock's childhood, providing the landscape as he travels cross-country by car and motorcycle, reconstructing Rock's career as a film star and illustrating his psychic states in subjective montages.

David Willinger has had a long standing interest in Saroyan's work and considers him an unjustly neglected writer of the highest stature. Willinger directed Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life" long ago and still regards it as "the best American play ever written." Despite his familiarity with Saroyan's work, he was unaware of "Rock Wagram" until he stumbled upon it on a bookshelf. He saw its plot as a quintessential American hero (or anti-hero) story, on par with that of our best 20th century novelists. He observes, "It is a picture of the false promise of the American Dream, searching for spiritual authenticity. It is riddled with American humor and pathos." But it was the novel's dialogue that captivated him. "Saroyan at his best is a great writer of dialogue for the stage. There was dialogue in this novel that just had to be pulled out. It is full of vivid characters. It was a ready-made play."

You may be familiar with David Willinger's other work. His last TNC production was "Winter Wedding" (2011) by the late, famed Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin, which he co-translated with Laurel Hessing. In 2011, he also directed "Under the Shadow of Wings," a double-bill of "The Death of Tintagiles" by Maeterlinck and "Karna and Kunti" by Tagore, for the Ambassador Theatre in Washington DC. Other TNC productions include "Job's Passion" by Hanoch Levin, "Don Juan in N.Y.C." by Eduardo Machado, "Master and Margarita," adapted by Jean-Claude van Itallie from the novel by Bulgakov, his own adaptation of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers, "Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad and his own musical adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's "The Manor," called "The Open Gate." Willinger has also directed at LaMaMa, The Cubiculo, Interart and HERE, among others.

"The Upper Lip" will be acted by Alan Cordoba (as Rock Wagram), John Calero, Victory Chappotin, Ben Hawthorne, Spencer Humphrey, Scott Lilly, Amanda Moreau, Enrique Pizarro, Erin Poland, Avninder Singh, Mary Tierney and Cynthia Toronto. Film director and camera operator is Herman Lew. Film editor is Babak Rassi. Costume design is by Susan Hemley. Lighting design is by Brian Aldous. Music is by Arthur Abrams.

Theater for the New City is located at 155 First Ave., at E. 10th Street. Performances run May 2 to 19, 2013, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 students and seniors. Box office (212) 254-1109; www.theaterforthenewcity.net. Running time: 1:30.

Pictured: Alan Cordoba plays Rock Wagram. Photo by Chris Montgomery.

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