Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Coming next to Ithaca's Kitchen Theatre Company is A Body Of Water, a mystery about family and memory by Lee Blessing. A middle-aged man (Moss) and woman (Avis) find themselves in a beautiful summer home with a view of water on all sides.  They are dressed in luxurious robes and nothing else. Sound idyllic? It would be, if only they could recall a few simple things: their names, why are they in this place and who they are to each other.

Lee Blessing further complicates the story by introducing a third character (Wren) who may hold clues to the truth-but with an agenda that heightens the tension. Blessing has said that the play is about "learning to live inside of a mystery." A Body Of Water opens for previews on February 18 and runs at Kitchen Theatre Company through March 8 before transferring to the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester.

Memory loss, family relationships, and living in whatever circumstances we find ourselves are the themes at the heart of this play. As humans, we contextualize experiences in terms of our past, present and future. When memory is not there, how does that affect us? A Body Of Water examines what we likely take for granted: that we understand the reality of our daily lives.

"I think it's good to alert the audience to the fact that we may all be chugging along in what we think of as reality but we may be missing enormous parts of life and perspectives on life that are really pretty crucial to have," says Blessing. Fans of films like Memento and the work of David Lynch will find a synergy with A Body of Water.

"We have an amazing cast and creative team," says Artistic Director Rachel Lampert. "They are just the right group to dig into this beautifully written, thoughtful and surprising script. Designer David L. Arsenault has created a gorgeous setting that is isolated yet beguiling."

Leading the production is Baltimore-based director Michele Minnick, whose production of Lungs was so extraordinary last season. Minnick travels internationally to teach, direct, perform and conduct research. This fall she co-directed Lamatown, a play with songs inspired by Ibsen's An Enemy of the People in Natal, Brazil. Currently, she is working as movement director for The Mesmeric Revelations of Edgar Allan Poe, Baltimore's first immersive theatre experience. She is also a master teacher and developer of the Rasaboxes approach.

The acting company has three Equity actors all new to the Kitchen. Carmen Roman (Avis) appeared in the national tour of Angels in America and off-Broadway in The Iphigenia Cycle at Theater for a New Audience, The Mysteries at Classic Stage Company and Paradise with Gary Allen Productions. Her regional credits include productions at American Blues Theater and Court Theatre, Chicago, Coconut Grove, Walnut Street Theater, The Huntington Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, The Wilma, Steppenwolf, The Galway Festival, Ireland and The Melbourne Arts Festival, Australia among many others. She was the 2002 Fox Fellow and a recipient of Sarah Siddons Award, Florence Herscher Award and Joseph Jefferson Awards for Master Class and Wit.

James Leaming (Moss) has appeared at North Coast Rep, Laguna Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Syracuse Stage and Asolo Repertory.  A Chicago resident, he has performed at Next Theatre, Steppenwolf, Northlight, Victory Gardens, Goodman, Drury Lane, Body Politic, Fox Theatricals and with Canamac Productions in Botanic Garden with Carmen Roman, directed by Olympia Dukakis. He's a founding member (1985) of American Blues Theater.

Lesley Gurule's (Wren) credits include The Whale, The K of D (Adirondack Theatre Festival), The Book Club Play (Cincinnati Playhouse), 24/5, Rhinoceros, Down South, Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Fritz Theater), Rooms (Secondhand Theater), and Tape, Spin (AYTB Theater).

The design team is led by set and lighting designer David L. Arsenault, designer of a dozen shows at Kitchen Theatre Company (including Sunset Baby, Seminar, Cock, Black Pearl Sings! (also Geva Theatre), The Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Whipping Man, Call Me Waldo (also Working Theatre), Selling Out, and Mary's Wedding) and regional productions at Hangar Theatre, Merry Go Round Playhouse, Hudson Stage, Gulfshore Playhouse and more. Sound design and original music is by Scott O'Brien, designer of this season's Lonely Planet and last season's Slashes of Light at Kitchen Theatre Company. Costume design is by Lisa Boquist, designer of many Kitchen Theatre Company productions, including, most recently, this season's Sunset Baby.

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