{"id":244523,"date":"2011-09-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/ion-theatre-stages-grace\/"},"modified":"2011-09-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T07:00:00","slug":"ion-theatre-stages-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/ion-theatre-stages-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Ion Theatre stages “Grace”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ion<\/a>
Francis Gercke, Nick Kennedy and Rhianna Besore. (Courtesy of Karin Filijan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A roller coaster, no holding back production<\/p>\n

Through September 10
\nIon’s BikBox Theatre
\nThursday and Friday 8 p.m.
\nSaturday 3 and 8 p.m.
\n619-600-5020
\niontheatre.com<\/p>\n

By Cuahtemoc Kish |<\/strong> Cr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/p>\n

Craig Wright\u2019s \u201cGrace\u201d is an exhilarating roller-coaster ride that starts out literally with a bang\u2014from a hand-held pistol\u2014then moves back in time to recreate the moments leading up to that terrifying blast. This drama might be something you would expect from a new writer on seasoned television shows like \u201cSix Feet Under\u201d and \u201cLost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Director Glenn Paris moves his four-actor cast with seamless effort that affords them an opportunity to connect and collide non-stop with one another for the full 95 minutes they share on the intimate ion Theatre stage in Hillcrest. There is no intermission.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrace\u201d takes on the heavy subject matter of religion, business, intimacy, and politics. These themes are woven into the lives of a young couple\u2014Steve, played by Francis Gercke and Sara, played by Rhiana Basore\u2014that have recently relocated to Florida. Added into the mix is a neighbor (Sam, played by Nick Kennedy) and a dour-looking condo exterminator (Karl, played by Jim Chovick).<\/p>\n

As the story unfolds, Steve can hardly contain himself with the news about funding for a scheme to construct a chain of Jesus-themed hotels. Sara, the pragmatist in the family, remains skeptical about the funding and rightly so. Somewhat predictably, the funds are not forthcoming and the resulting economic and emotional woes take a toll on their childless marriage.<\/p>\n

Wright has written Sam\u2019s role as the emotional catalyst that easily pulls Sara away from her husband. The character Sam has a disturbingly honest and painful tale about an automobile accident that resulted in the death of his fianc\u00e9e and provided him with his scarred facial deformity. The character of Karl, a non-believer, mixes emotions up further with a disturbing recollection about the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Gercke tackles the role of Steve, the \u2018Jesus freak,\u2019 with a passion. His belief system is constantly on display and he wears his emotions raw throughout the production in one of the best acting roles I\u2019ve witnessed this year. Basore is no slouch in the role of the skeptical wife, moving away from both God and Steve in a nuanced performance that is honest and believable.<\/p>\n

Kennedy does well as Sam, the neighbor and NASA scientist who pushed his fianc\u00e9e inadvertently into an unforeseen death. Sam lost everything, and Kennedy plays guilt and heartache well, speaking about time and space. Chovick\u2019s exterminator is as creepy and in-your-face as audiences are likely to get from a fringe character.<\/p>\n

Melanie Chen\u2019s sound design underscores the unbalanced lives of the four characters as if the set\u2014and their lives\u2014were an eerie echo chamber. Matt Scott\u2019s design, an interior condo scene, touched on brilliance. He overlapped the field in which both characters use the same space at the same time, although they \u2018live\u2019 in separate homes. \u201cGrace\u201d is an intimate drama that\u2019s guaranteed to demand your attention.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A roller coaster, no holding back production Through September 10 Ion’s BikBox Theatre Thursday and Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 3 and 8 p.m. 619-600-5020 iontheatre.com By Cuahtemoc Kish | SDUN Theater Critic Craig Wright\u2019s \u201cGrace\u201d is an exhilarating roller-coaster ride that starts out literally with a bang\u2014from a hand-held pistol\u2014then moves back in time to […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Ion Theatre stages \"Grace\"","_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-244523","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\/244523","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\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}