Topdog/Underdog previews tonight and opens tomorrow with a gala after-party where audience can meet the actors and production team. This Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play uses humor to address some very serious issues about power dynamics, race and sibling rivalry. The language is raw and vibrant. The issues are gripping. The characters are dynamite. Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks won a "Genius award" from the MacArthur Foundation. There is so much excitement leading up to the opening of this cutting edge play! Two brothers deal with shifting identity and betrayal. Humor is the key element used in making these street characters appealing so that an audience can identify and root for them. Shakespeare used this same device in Henry IV - Parts 1 & 2 so that thieves and cowards in the tavern scenes become lovable clowns though their deeds are contemptible. Aristotle tells us, "in a comedy the people on stage are like us but less than us" (2.4). There will be discussions and analysis of how humor is used in this play during Cape May Forum's tenure next week.
Killadelphia will be coming this Monday, October 4. Another edgy, comedic look at a serious subject comes to our Second Stage. In the summer of 2008, Philadelphia was in the midst of a murder epidemic that put it on par with some third world countries. Sean Christopher Lewis takes an unflinching look at the causes of the crime rate and its effects on the community. It has been described as "a mixtape of a city" and the New York Press called the piece "explicitly authentic". It is the perfect companion piece to the gritty Topdog/Underdog and uses humor in much the same way to distance the spectator so they can absorb the true meaning and message of the author. The solo play is at 8 PM and tickets are $20.
The following night Cape May Stage will be honoring Arlette de Monceau Michaelis who wrote Beyond The Ouija Board about her experience in World War II as a teenager in occupied Belgium. Dr. Ron Goldstein brought Ms. Michaelis to the attention of Cape May Stage. There is little funny about Nazis occupying one's country but Arlette Michaelis filters her experience through the eyes of a rebellious teenager and her awesome courage is at times quite funny as well. Ms. Michaelis has been lecturing about this experience for many decades and her students are more likely to remember these stories than the lessons she taught as a teacher for the last thirty years. This evening is absolutely free and Ms. Michaelis will be presented with a plaque for her great service.
Tickets to all of these programs can be reserved at capemaystage.com or by calling 884-1341!
In all of the above programs violence and serious issues are endured through the use of humor. Cape May Stage joins with Cape May Forum to ponder the question "Can Humor Save The World". The answer may be less important than the question.
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