2008 Woodie Awards
Play leaves questions unanswered
Ellen Grafton
Issue date: 3/2/06 Section: Arts
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Stepping onto McCullough stage last Wednesday, Claudia Stevens let out an eerie, crooning alien noise that reverberated through the audience. So began Stevens' one-woman show, "Dreadful Sorry Guys."
"Dreadful Sorry Guys" combined vocals, piano and monologues to explore genocide and societal guilt. Stevens began by relaying the true story of her friend, Gary Matson, who was murdered with his lover as part of a hate crime in California. She speculated what his death must have been like and whether or not Gary heard "voices in the room" of other spirits when he died. Stevens went on to embody a few of those voices. She performed monologues as three characters: "my man," the last of the Yahi Indians of Northern California and Only, the one Jewish survivor who returns to his home in Poland following World War II. Stevens distinguishes each character with costume, voice and physicality.
As "Dreadful Sorry Guys" progressed, a pattern emerged between the stories of Ishi, Only and Gary. Each character became revered, held up as a relic of a people wiped out by genocide. Ironically, they were honored by the same communities that were complicit in the acts of genocide. Ishi became a living specimen studied by anthropologists, a pop culture icon displayed for public amusement. Only was put in charge of the Jewish cemetery, supported financially for the rest of his life from the guilt of his town. Gary's memory was "honored" when the people in his area organized a day "celebrating cultural diversity," which Stevens ironically indicated has little to do with actual cultural diversity and more with interpretive dance performances and fancy titles. In the open discussion session after the show, Stevens explained she was interested in exploring the phenomenon in communities connected with genocide in which they display an "unwillingness to acknowledge deep-felt sorrow or shame but instead turn it into a celebration where they can sing and dance."
Stevens ended the piece with a short appearance by "Neander-doll," a recent archeological find that indicates there may have been some intermingling of Neanderthals and our ancestors. "Doll" represents yet another of a lost people. Stevens donmed a wig and sings the same strange visceral song that opened the show, hinting that mankind's tendency to mourn "the other" only when it are almost gone is as old to human nature as the disappearance of the Neanderthals.
"Dreadful Sorry Guys" combined vocals, piano and monologues to explore genocide and societal guilt. Stevens began by relaying the true story of her friend, Gary Matson, who was murdered with his lover as part of a hate crime in California. She speculated what his death must have been like and whether or not Gary heard "voices in the room" of other spirits when he died. Stevens went on to embody a few of those voices. She performed monologues as three characters: "my man," the last of the Yahi Indians of Northern California and Only, the one Jewish survivor who returns to his home in Poland following World War II. Stevens distinguishes each character with costume, voice and physicality.
As "Dreadful Sorry Guys" progressed, a pattern emerged between the stories of Ishi, Only and Gary. Each character became revered, held up as a relic of a people wiped out by genocide. Ironically, they were honored by the same communities that were complicit in the acts of genocide. Ishi became a living specimen studied by anthropologists, a pop culture icon displayed for public amusement. Only was put in charge of the Jewish cemetery, supported financially for the rest of his life from the guilt of his town. Gary's memory was "honored" when the people in his area organized a day "celebrating cultural diversity," which Stevens ironically indicated has little to do with actual cultural diversity and more with interpretive dance performances and fancy titles. In the open discussion session after the show, Stevens explained she was interested in exploring the phenomenon in communities connected with genocide in which they display an "unwillingness to acknowledge deep-felt sorrow or shame but instead turn it into a celebration where they can sing and dance."
Stevens ended the piece with a short appearance by "Neander-doll," a recent archeological find that indicates there may have been some intermingling of Neanderthals and our ancestors. "Doll" represents yet another of a lost people. Stevens donmed a wig and sings the same strange visceral song that opened the show, hinting that mankind's tendency to mourn "the other" only when it are almost gone is as old to human nature as the disappearance of the Neanderthals.