{"id":243788,"date":"2010-08-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/devastating-scenes-reflect-characters-isolation-distress\/"},"modified":"2010-08-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T07:00:00","slug":"devastating-scenes-reflect-characters-isolation-distress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/devastating-scenes-reflect-characters-isolation-distress\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Devastating\u2019 scenes reflect characters\u2019 isolation, distress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Charlene Baldridge
\nCr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN
\n<\/strong>
\n

\"\u2018Devastating\u2019<\/a>
In the ion theatre play, Matthew Alexander (top left) plays Kim Phan, who asks his cancer-suffering mother, Lily (Robin Christ), to help him write a 20-page paper about extinction. (Courtesy ion theatre company)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Everyone alive has experienced the far-reaching effects of a disease named cancer. With \u201cSong of Extinction,\u201d ion theatre company [sic] Artistic Director Claudio Raygoza and Producing Artistic Director Glenn Paris show the courage to stage what is\u2014a tone poem about a family whose way of dealing with the disease is to wall themselves off from reality and each other, and even from the hospitalized wife and mother who needs them most.<\/p>\n

Presented in brief, fragmented scenes, their isolation and hers is devastating. In extremis, these people inhabit each other\u2019s hallucinations, providing the audience momentary surcease from the relentless intensity. Kim Phan (Diep Huynh), a survivor of Cambodia\u2019s \u201ckilling fields\u201d where he lost everything he loved, is a sensitive high school science teacher who helps each of them.<\/p>\n

Kim Phan realizes that 15-year-old Max Forrestal (15-year-old Matthew Alexander) is in emotional distress when he acts out in class, then comes to school late one night on the pretense of asking for help in writing his 20-page paper on extinction. Lily, Max\u2019s mother (Robin Christ), has cancer, he hasn\u2019t eaten for days, and his father (Tom Hall) is so intent on saving a rare Bolivian bug from extinction that he can think of little else. Developer Gill Morris (Spencer Farmer), who laughs at Max\u2019s request to desist, is responsible for the deforestation that will kill off the endangered insect.<\/p>\n

Lewis slips occasionally into heavy-handed messages about evil developers and the Khmer Rouge; but when it comes to avoidance and human failure, her emotionally isolated characters poetically deliver her more important messages. <\/p>\n

Under Raygoza\u2019s taut direction, the acting company is magnificent. In his still performance, Hall\u2014usually cast in overtly emotional roles\u2014captures the agony of Max\u2019s distracted dad, Ellery, a biologist who\u2019s been researching in Bolivia since he and Lily were newlyweds. Hall and Alexander bear resemblance to one another, and Alexander is an extraordinary young actor. Christ\u2019s 11th hour scene with Huynh is among the play\u2019s most affecting. Dylan J. Seaton portrays Dr. Dorsey, an inexperienced oncologist. <\/p>\n

This award-winning play is buoyed by fantasy, poetry and the sensitive support of Raygoza\u2019s sound design, which incorporates birdsong, music by Bach and Dvorak (Max studies viola, and Alexander plays several minor scales at the top of the play), folk melodies, and music composed especially for the play. Karin Filijan is lighting designer, Paris is responsible for costumes and makeup, and Raygoza and Matt Scott are scenic designers.<\/p>\n

Lewis received the 2009 Steinberg\/American Theatre Critics New Play Award for \u201cSong of Extinction.\u201d She hails originally from Oregon, lived in Los Angeles, and heads next for Princeton for a 2010-2011 Hodder Fellowship in playwriting.<\/p>\n

\u201cSong of Extinction\u201d
\nThursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m.
\nSaturdays, 4 p.m.
\nion theatre company\u2019s BLKBox @ 6th & Penn
\n3704 6th Ave.
\nCresta de la colina
\nTickets: $25<\/strong>
\niontheatre.com<\/a>
\n600-5020<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charlene Baldridge SDUN Theatre Critic Everyone alive has experienced the far-reaching effects of a disease named cancer. With \u201cSong of Extinction,\u201d ion theatre company [sic] Artistic Director Claudio Raygoza and Producing Artistic Director Glenn Paris show the courage to stage what is\u2014a tone poem about a family whose way of dealing with the disease […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":243789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Devastating\u2019 scenes reflect characters\u2019 isolation, distress","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}