{"id":2160,"date":"2012-08-20T19:33:17","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T19:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=2160"},"modified":"2012-08-20T21:22:38","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T21:22:38","slug":"circle-mirror-transformation-at-marin-theatre-company-mill-valley-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/circle-mirror-transformation-at-marin-theatre-company-mill-valley-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCircle Mirror Transformation\u201d at Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley CA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cCircle Mirror Transformation\u201d by Annie Baker <\/strong><\/span>Presented by Marin Theatre Company
\n<\/strong><\/span>A Bay Area premiere, co-produced with Encore Theatre Company of San Francisco<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n
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From Left: Marissa Keltie, Robert Parsons, L Peter Callender, Arwen Anderson, Julia Brothers<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Intelligent, Magical \u201cMirror\u201d Reflects the Familiar in Unique Ways<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To launch its 46th season, Marin Theatre Company presents \u201cCircle Mirror Transformation\u201d, an accidental journey to self-discovery. It\u2019s an engagingly honest, tenderhearted story in which we can see ourselves clearly reflected in each of the five characters, much like the \u201cMirror\u201d of the title. Celebrating our all-too-common moments of frustration, social ineptness, awkward pauses and regrets, it embraces a subtle comedy, the kind that arises from real-life human interaction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The setting is a small college town in Vermont. In a dingy basement dance studio, five people are participating in a \u201cCreative Drama\u201d workshop, a series of six weekly sessions intended for beginning actors. Together they discover the theatre games and exercises that help them to capture and use their innermost creativity and awareness. The very nature of these exercises forces them to get to know themselves, and each other, in sometimes painful, sometimes funny and sometimes lovely ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The story unfolds in a series of short vignettes separated by blackouts, and combined with the extended pauses in dialogue that happen in everyday conversation, it allows us freedom of imagination to wonder about the moments being lived onstage and what might happen next. The style is starkly naturalistic, with a spare set and elemental lighting. The costumes could be the actors\u2019 own very casual clothing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Acclaimed young playwright\u00a0Annie Baker<\/strong>\u00a0won an OBIE Award for Best New American Play for her \u201cCircle Mirror Transformation\u201d after its premier Off-Broadway in 2009, also receiving a Drama Desk nomination for Best Play. Her work, which includes her two other plays \u201cBody Awareness\u201d and \u201cThe Aliens\u201d, has been produced with great success here in the Bay Area, around the U.S. and worldwide. In an interview before the premiere of \u201cCircle\u201d in September 2009, she described her original style of writing, where less is so much more: she writes a rough draft of her story, and then records herself speaking each of the characters\u2019 parts. Admitting \u201cI\u2019m a pretty bad actor\u201d, she said \u201cIt\u2019s so important to me that I capture the cadences of painful, ordinary speech and it\u2019s hard to tell if it\u2019s believable on the page.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Stripped of artifice, such natural dialogue requires especially skilled actors able to translate the sometimes inarticulate words and pauses for the audience. It\u2019s almost like musicians playing a jazz musical score, relying on the improvisational instincts and connectedness of the performers.\u00a0Julia Brothers<\/strong>\u00a0brings emotional dynamism to her role as Marty, the magnetic but vulnerable workshop instructor who ultimately learns more than she teaches. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon,\u00a0Marissa Keltie<\/strong>\u00a0as the introverted sixteen-year old Lauren keeps her character petulant and subdued, gradually revealing life-changing secrets. The renaissance-man James, Marty\u2019s charmingly intense husband, is played with subtle power by\u00a0L Peter Callender<\/strong>. In perhaps the most moving performance of the show, Callendar\u2019s character recognizes the painful truth in his own life during a role-playing exercise that will have unintended consequences later on. The role of Theresa, on the run from an abusive relationship, is gracefully played by\u00a0Arwen Anderson<\/strong>, displaying a fine sense of timing and nuance when interacting with the other characters.\u00a0Robert Parsons<\/strong>\u00a0as the dejected Shultz, freshly wounded by a divorce, delivers a performance that will resonate with men everywhere. The brief, stormy romance between Shultz and Theresa forms the sweet hub of the story. All five characters in turn grow and transform, sharing the experience with the audience right through to the surprising ending.<\/p>\n

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L Peter Callender, Robert Parsons, Julia Brothers<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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New York director\u00a0Kip Fagan<\/strong>\u00a0has an impressive background developing new plays, teaching and directing at the Julliard School, NYU and countless regional workshops and theatres all over the country. In \u201cCircle\u201d, his first play at MTC, he shows unmistakable skill at drawing out the very best improvisational talents of his cast. His vision brings truth and relevance to the stage, perfectly realized in his deceptively simple, almost invisible staging. The success of \u201cCircle\u201d relies in part on his faith in Baker\u2019s unique storytelling style with regards to her special use of blackouts, dialogue and blocking of characters. Scenic Designer\u00a0Andrew Boyce<\/strong>\u00a0and Lighting Designer\u00a0Gabe Maxson<\/strong>\u00a0recreate the drab, utilitarian workshop with uncanny accuracy. Musical compositions and Sound Design by\u00a0Cliff Caruthers<\/strong>\u00a0provides understated, atmospheric support to the performers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Almost reflexively, we react to the experiences of the actors onstage with a suddenly increased awareness of ourselves and others. It\u2019s a truly refreshing and liberating effect from such a simple concept, like breathing in pure oxygen. The magic onstage comes not from seeing fancy stagecraft, but from recognizing and sharing our human connection. This is priceless, and it makes \u201cCircle\u201d irresistible.<\/p>\n

Photos by Kevin Berne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When: now through September 2, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

8 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:30 p.m. Wednesdays<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 p.m. Saturdays August 11 and August 25<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 p.m. Thursday August 16<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets: $36 to $57<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: Marin Theatre Company<\/strong><\/p>\n

397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley CA 94941<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phone: 415-388-5208<\/strong><\/p>\n

Website:\u00a0<\/strong>www.marintheatre.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCircle Mirror Transformation\u201d by Annie Baker Presented by Marin Theatre Company A Bay Area premiere, co-produced with Encore Theatre Company of San Francisco Intelligent, Magical \u201cMirror\u201d Reflects the Familiar in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-greg-suzanne-angeo"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"