'Dying City' takes enlivened stance on political issues

Author: Jessie Kissinger

"Theater, no matter how temporary it might be, is a space that demands its audience to respond and react as a community," read the program of "Dying City," the Theatre Department 700 project of Meagan Mishico '08.5 (directing) and Justine Katzenbach '08.5 (acting).

"Dying City" went up in the Hepburn Zoo Nov. 20 through Nov. 22nd. Written by contemporary playwright Christopher Shinn, this smart script integrated domestic and war-related traumas.

The play opens a year after the death of Craig (Sasha Hirsch '10.5), Kelly's (Katzenbach) husband. An unexpected visitor, Craig's brother Peter (also Hirsch) shows up at her door. Peter's presence provokes a series of flashbacks in which Kelly relives the night before Craig leaves for Iraq, reawakening the complications of a marriage that existed amidst the white noise of an unpopular war. By slowly unfurling the true dynamic of Kelly and Craig's marriage, the play's structure acts as a form of denial, bringing home perhaps Shinn's - and certainly Mishico's - intentions to awaken the audience's suppressed grief surrounding the war in Iraq.

"This piece deals with the morality of war," said Mishico. "It attempts to address the fact that our culture and our generation, more often than not, chooses to not deal with what is going on. No matter where you are from, no matter where you went to school, this trauma affects us all. How do you overcome what seems too painful to even deal with? We just need to keep talking about it and exploring it and not try to hide it away."

Mishico and Katzenbach decided to collaborate on their Senior 700 project last fall while working together on "The Heidi Chronicles." They then began looking for a play this spring.

"We read what felt like hundreds of plays before falling upon 'Dying City,'" Katzenbach explained. "When we read it, we both immediately were gripped by its subject matter, the theatrical opportunities it proposed, as well as the story it told."

"We wanted a contemporary play with a small cast that would make an impact on our peers. We wanted the play to speak to issues that our generation faces," Mishico elaborated.

The production wavered a little at its start, but ultimately pulled through, creating a poignant depiction of three people learning to cope with the despair generated by actions both in and out of their control.

Katzenbach, recently the devastatingly funny Malvolio in the faculty production of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," proved a few weeks ago to be an incredibly talented comedic actress. While performing in the Wright Memorial Theatre, she left her audience in stitches. Her performance in the Hepburn Zoo, an intimate black box theatre, initially left some desire for subtlety. That said, both Katzenbach and Hirsch seemed to require a period of adjustment. As they eased deeper into their roles and the audience acclimated to a heightened sense of reality, their performances gave life to scenes bursting with intensity, especially those between Kelly and Craig.

Like Katzenbach, Hirsch also dealt with the challenge of taking on two roles, except that both of his were in the same play, as Shinn's script specifies that both Peter and Craig be played by one actor.

Said Hirsch, "Shinn's language creates two very different brothers who struggle with a shared history and a complicated relationship, and yet he writes them honestly so that we can identify with them easily."

The doubling was especially powerful when Peter read aloud e-mails from his brother in Iraq. By allowing the characters to share one actor, the words took on a dual resonance, evoking the perspectives of both brothers.

Mishico highlighted the script's attention to technology. Phones break up the scenes, allowing for flashbacks, Kelly often perches herself in front of the TV and even Craig's deeply personal writings during the war are filtered through e-mail.

"I think America uses technology to hide or cover up our fear or our pain," said Mishico, "but you can't be passive in theatre. If done well, theatre can be a powerful, visceral experience that encourages or even provokes an emotional response. You need that catharsis in order to even begin to think about healing."

"Dying City" demanded that its audience address both contemporary issues surrounding the war in Iraq as well as timeless issues concerning the complexities of familial and romantic relationships. And as Mishico and Katzenbach intended, this production offered a communal experience of confrontation and relief.