Alienation and loathing in subUrbia
Eric Bogosian's powerful play about lost youth gets local production
by CRAIG MCKEE
Sometimes theatre directors have to deal with material that is entirely foreign to them.
That's the case with the new production of Eric Bogosian's play subUrbia - about a group of teens who are disillusioned with just about everything.
The founder and artistic director of Persephone Productions, Gabrielle Soskin, is quick to admit that her middle-class British background is a far cry from the culturally barren environment that the play's characters feel so trapped in.
"I feel very far removed from that kind of malaise," Soskin says.
"It's terribly tragic, and a terrible waste of potential."
She says she was attracted to Bogosian's play because it is so emotionally powerful and crafted.
Bogosian is best known for starring in the film version of his play Talk Radio under the direction of Oliver Stone.
Bogosian, who grew up in Woburn, Mass., a suburb of Boston, wrote subUrbia from personal experience.
Soskin says that with recent politcal events like the war inIraq and the shootings at Columbine High School, this play is every bit as relevant as it was when it was first performed in 1995.
Soskin adds that with everything they see going around them in the world, it is difficult for young people to hold on to any sense of idealism - something that the play explores very effectively.
"The values being presented to them don't make any sense," she says.
The mandate of Persephone Productions is to provide opportunites for young actors in plays that are of some literary or social significance.
Previous productions by the company include Kindertransport, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, West, and Playhouse Creatures.
Soskin, a former drama teacher at John Abbott College, is now presenting her sixth play with Persephone. Previous shows have been at the Théâtre La Chapelle on Calixa Lavallée next to Lafontaine Park.
That space was unavailable this time, necessitating the move to the much nicer but more expensive Monument National.
She says that the characters in subUrbia are around 20 years old but are being played by actors a few years older than that.
"These roles are a bit too difficult for teenagers," she says. "I think our cast benefits from having more maturity."
Reprinted from The Suburban September 15, 2004
Sometimes theatre directors have to deal with material that is entirely foreign to them.
That's the case with the new production of Eric Bogosian's play subUrbia - about a group of teens who are disillusioned with just about everything.
The founder and artistic director of Persephone Productions, Gabrielle Soskin, is quick to admit that her middle-class British background is a far cry from the culturally barren environment that the play's characters feel so trapped in.
"I feel very far removed from that kind of malaise," Soskin says.
"It's terribly tragic, and a terrible waste of potential."
She says she was attracted to Bogosian's play because it is so emotionally powerful and crafted.
Bogosian is best known for starring in the film version of his play Talk Radio under the direction of Oliver Stone.
Bogosian, who grew up in Woburn, Mass., a suburb of Boston, wrote subUrbia from personal experience.
Soskin says that with recent politcal events like the war inIraq and the shootings at Columbine High School, this play is every bit as relevant as it was when it was first performed in 1995.
Soskin adds that with everything they see going around them in the world, it is difficult for young people to hold on to any sense of idealism - something that the play explores very effectively.
"The values being presented to them don't make any sense," she says.
The mandate of Persephone Productions is to provide opportunites for young actors in plays that are of some literary or social significance.
Previous productions by the company include Kindertransport, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, West, and Playhouse Creatures.
Soskin, a former drama teacher at John Abbott College, is now presenting her sixth play with Persephone. Previous shows have been at the Théâtre La Chapelle on Calixa Lavallée next to Lafontaine Park.
That space was unavailable this time, necessitating the move to the much nicer but more expensive Monument National.
She says that the characters in subUrbia are around 20 years old but are being played by actors a few years older than that.
"These roles are a bit too difficult for teenagers," she says. "I think our cast benefits from having more maturity."
Reprinted from The Suburban September 15, 2004
