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The Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
June 9 - June 15, 2005 Edition
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Theater June 9, 2005 There is no new Theater story this week. Brilliant reflections and romantic comedy on stage June 2, 2005 By Tony Omer Niki Patton presents her monologue, "Volare," at the Vineyard Playhouse's Island Interludes last Friday evening. Photos by Sally Cohen "The Heart of Art," a new play by Lydia F. Bruce and Andrew S. Burns in a staged reading Saturday evening at the Vineyard Playhouse. The two-week series of four plays by Island writers, Island Interludes, concluded a successful run this past weekend at the Vineyard Playhouse with two very different pieces — “Volare,” a monologue performed by the author Cleonice Niki Patton, on Friday evening, and a staged reading of “The Heart of Art” by Lydia F. Bruce and Andrew S. Burns on Saturday. Each piece was a work in progress directed and produced by MJ Bruder Munafo, and to varying degrees edited by Ms Bruder Munafo, with the exception of “The Heart of Art” which was read unedited. Each performance was followed by an open question and answer period during which the playwrights answered and asked questions. Staged readings are a bit like radio plays. Rehearsed and read by experienced actors, there is minimal movement and no blocking, some music and sound effects, no set or props, but much expression and emotional interaction. Niki Patton has been seen on local stages as an actor and a songwriter-folksinger, and has written for Island publications. She combined many of her talents in her piece, “Volare,” a monologue on life, death, shadows, and Naples, Italy.” After seeing this sub-title, I was a little less than excited about going, but I had promised my editor that I would. Why wallow in someone else’s life and death? And the shadows part? After all, it was Friday night. But what made me most uncomfortable was the thought of walking in on something written by someone who evidently felt the need to distinguish Naples, Italy from Naples, Florida, or was it one of the dozen or so other municipalities in the United States named Naples? Boy, was I off the mark. “Volare” was in every sense of the word, a tour de force, a prose poem, a wonderfully written outpouring of family and personal history, love and happiness, sickness and death, cushioned by a beautiful and moving carpet of wit, and humor, with slides and music. Inspired in part by the death, just a year ago, of Ms. Patton’s 92-year-old, very Italian, Italian-American mother (an expert in “physical adjectives”), the monologue was an exhibition of a thoughtful, articulate soul, opened for us to see, an unmasking of both the dark and light in her life. Ms. Patton took us from New York to Naples, the River Styx to the River Jordan, from Dante to Caruso and Nat King Cole and had us all singing “Amazing Grace” near the end, and kept reminding us along the way that, “shadowland is too big, too big to own”. The theater was practically filled and I noticed many writers in the group, a tough crowd, but one that gave Ms. Patton two standing ovations. “Volare” reminded me of Spalding Grey at his best and I would see this one a second and third time if given the chance. I actually have been to Naples, Fla. Now it’s time for Italy. Ms. Patton thanked friend and fellow writer Nancy Aronie for her help and feedback on “Volare.” Romantic comedy of modern life “The Heart of Art” was Saturday evening’s closer by the writing team of Lydia F. Bruce and Andrew S. Burns (Bruce & Burns). Mr. Burns has been a seasonal resident of Edgartown for more than 30 years, during breaks from his teaching gig as an engineer at M.I.T. Ms. Bruce is an artist and was once employed by a law office. The play incorporates a plethora of topical themes into a romantic comedy of crossed purposes, however inadvertent, in attempts to start and build a meaningful relationship in contemporary New York. An artist and a lawyer, yin and yang, meet as a result of an Internet matching service. Their relationship flourishes, in spite of a sex bet, an aroma-therapied new age friend, a meddling Greenwich, Connecticut WASPy mother, and a whacked out “can’t-seem-to-keep-her-politics-straight” sister, until there is a crisis caused by an artistic/political versus job/ethical conflict. There is almost too much attention to the details of both plot and character development in the long first act. While often touching and humorous, there is too much explanation for it to be really funny. Well-written and meaningful monologue after monologue, covering important issues, is sandwiched side by side to form dialogue. The heart of art is reached by subtracting from the block of beautiful marble. The play really works in the much shorter second act where it reaches an almost farcical, frantic resolution over an unmade bed (an art museum installation), and the comedy rises to the surface. The cast of Island actors — Michelle Marks, Chelsea McCarthy, George Davis, Christopher Kann, Deborah Hart, Barbara Dworkin and Paul Munafo — all were well cast and turned in fine performances. The Playhouse should be applauded for helping to bring our local writing talent to the stage. Hip, hip… Hope to see you next year.

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