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Theaterweek

Jimmy Janowski in "I Am My Own Wife"

As is often the case, some of the best theater of the season is packed into the final weeks of the season. With a first-rate Urinetown at MusicalFare, and two impressive Doug Wright plays: I Am My Own Wife at Buffalo United Artists and Quills at Torn Space. Alleyway puts its best foot forward with The Book of Liz. Also noteworthy is the Kavinoky production of Celadine (not yet reviewed by Artvoice) and a game if uneven production of Loot from the Irish Classical Theatre Company.

I AM MY OWN WIFE

The regular theater-goer in Buffalo quickly becomes familiar with the local acting pool. In time, we come to know the entire bag of tricks for any given actor, or so it seems. What a treat then to see Jimmy Janowski bring such artistry, depth and originality to his solo performance as more than 30 characters in Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife.

The play tells the story of Wright’s own acquaintance with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a biologically male, cross-dressing East German who thought of himself as a woman. Amazingly, Charlotte survived both the Nazi and Communist regimes. Over the course of knowing her, however, Wright learns that Charlotte’s survival has been won at a price. She has made some significant moral compromises which she has disguised with a protective cloak of fantasy.

Janowski articulates the story and each character with sensitivity, depth and his own distinctive sense of humor, walking in the mysterious shoes of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf with impressive nuance, insight, and skill.

The production benefits from the minimalist style, characteristic of Buffalo United Artists. Under Chris Kelly’s sure direction, I Am My Own Wife is a tremendously intimate affair in which a parade of characters takes us into their confidence. Most remarkably, Janowski’s performance brings far greater clarity to the story than did the original New York production.

Interestingly, the production serves to reveal the ways in which the personal background of audience members shapes the theater experience. Those who expect to see Jimmy Janowski in one of those clever drag parodies that are his trademark may be startled by the soulful seriousness underlying I Am My Own Wife. Those unfamiliar with the transgender experience may have difficulty accepting that for Charlotte von Mahlsdorf a walk to the corner store was an act of courage. For Charlotte to survive the Nazis and the Communists is miraculous, really, a heroic accomplishment that might well have been impossible without the kind of moral concession one only makes when bargaining for life itself.

QUILLS

Doug Wright is also well represented by the Torn Space production of Quills, his fictionalized account of the last days of the Marquis de Sade. The play lends itself to the edgy style of Torn Space, which precedes the performance with a pre-show excerpt from de Sade’s Philosophy in the Boudoir enacted by Dana Block and Robert Tucker.

Really a response to government cuts to the arts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Quills bears little resemblance to the actual last days of the Marquis de Sade, who in fact died a quiet, corpulent, old man. In the play, the marquis is a pawn caught in a war of philosophies between the humane Abbé De Coulmier and Dr. Royer-Collard, the harsh new director of the insane asylum at Charenton. The Abbé believes in a compassionate approach to mental illness and allows his famous patient/prisoner quill pens for writing. Dr. Royer-Collard seeks to suppress the marquis’ pervert fantasies or to crush them. As events escalate the latter strategy becomes inevitable.

David Oliver is impish and charismatic as the Marquis de Sade. Up to every game, he revels in irritating his wardens and subverting their authority.

The real combatants, however, are the Abbé, played by David Autovino, and Dr. Royer-Collard, played by Thomas Lachiusa. These two offer a delightful balance of forces, each reaching a higher level of exasperation as the marquis undermines every effort to control him. They take away his quills; the marquis writes on his bed linen with wine. They take away his wine and sheets; he writes on his clothes with blood. Not even the eventual removal of his tongue can stop the marquis’ creative/communicative urges.

Kelly Ferguson is especially pleasing as the laundress addicted to narrative who helps the marquis smuggle prose out of his prison. Lona Geiser provides great comic moments as de Sade’s beleaguered wife.

I have never read nor seen any production of Quills before; neither have I seen the film, and so while I am told that scenes from Wright’s screenplay have been added to this production, I am not able to comment on alterations to the text. It is a meticulous and most enjoyable production, directed by Chris Standart, with a set by Standart and Dan Shanahan.

The Adam Mickiewicz Dramatic Circle and Library does provide performance challenges, as actors must overcome a decided echo, and even in its intimate setting there is a large expanse between the audience and the major playing areas. Strong acting goes a long way to overcome these. The visual effects are entertaining and the overall effect of the production is very pleasing, indeed.

LOOT

Joe Orton is one of those playwrights beloved in the academy. He is, in addition, the favorite gay playwright of many a straight critic. And yet I have seldom seen a successful production of any of his plays. I adore the idea of Joe Orton and want to love him, but the reality of performance is almost always lacking. The current Irish Classical Theatre Company production of Loot at the Andrews Theatre reinforces Orton’s status as historical oddity.

Under the direction of Robert Knopf, a fine cast gives the material an energetic go. Vincent O’Neill is wonderfully comical as a Clouseau-esque inspector. Kristen Tripp Kelly is deliciously convincing as an amorally murderous nurse. Peter Jaskowiak is splendid as the inevitable clueless, middle-class man, caught in the midst of a world come unhinged. John Warren and Michael Providence are as appealing as humanly possible as a pair of inept thieves.

Ah, but here, the “but”...

Where is this going and why is it taking so long to get there? Upbeat, period-evoking Beatles music at the beginning and end seem to telegraph that we are about to have a wonderful time or that we just have. Everything in between, however, leaves that open to debate.

Individual moments are arrestingly fun. Brilliant one-liners and snappy rejoinders abound. But ultimately, it all adds up to a scattered array of mildly naughty bits. The spine of the play eludes this production, and with it goes a sense of focus, purpose and subversion. The whole is less than the sum of its parts.

THE BOOK OF LIZ

Joyce Stilson, helped along by an outrageous set of fake teeth, gets a comic role she can really bite into with the Amy Sedaris/David Sedaris comedy, The Book of Liz. An episodic romp through the conflict between society and the individual, Stilson plays Sister Elizabeth, an underappreciated member of the reclusive society of the Squeamish, a fictional community modeled on the Amish.

Stilson is joined by a madcap company of comics, including Sean McCormack, Kim Piazza and Michael Starzynski. A spirit of amateurism seems to help this production, which plays like an Amish spoof on the similarly free-wheeling old Carol Burnett Show. Under the direction of Todd Warfield, The Book of Liz is a winning diversion in which all bad deeds are undone, no hurt is permanent and goodness and love ultimately triumph.