#Somewhere in the pacific skin

ThereвЂ™s nothing nearly so dreadful or mordant about Neal BellвЂ™s Somewhere in the Pacific. Nevertheless, Faraone encourages her cast to present the lines simply and briskly, delivering the dreadful, mordant power of KaneвЂ™s language. One voice says, as though by way of explanation: вЂњSheвЂ™s talking about herself in the third person because the idea of being who she is, of acknowledging that she is herself, is more than her pride can take.вЂќ In director Cheryl FaraoneвЂ™s production, the choice of actors and their costumes-a little girl, a teenaged boy, a businesswoman, an unctuous older man-suggests a temptation to psychologize, typically a mistake with Kane. In their discussions of love, abuse, and suicide attempts, they adopt bits of KaneвЂ™s history. Though some speakers are male and some female, the voices all seem to flow from the same fractured intellect. Sarah Kane calls herself far worse things in Crave, a dramatic poem for four voices, all of which might be the late writerвЂ™s own.

#Somewhere in the pacific skin

Her skin ashen, her hair in disarray, she gives an unbeautiful turn as the self-described вЂњEgotistical and Monstrous Woman.вЂќ And though director Richard Romagnoli encourages rather campy performances from several of the actors, he coaxes fine work from Maxwell. At times, itвЂ™s frustrating not to feel an emotional connection to these characters, but Barker provides sufficient questions and conjectures to occupy the mind. It explores the problem of patriotism, the place of the state, the rigors of artistic practice, and what terrible stooges we critics are. Scenes is an unashamedly Brechtian work, a play of ideas rather than emotions. Though the younger painter begs her to obey the state, Galactia insists: вЂњSomeone has got to speak for dead men.вЂќ The result: When one viewer sees the painting, he can only gasp: вЂњOh, God. Trouble is, she doesnвЂ™t think thereвЂ™s much worth celebrating. It concerns a fictional painter, Galactia, who has accepted a commission from the Doge of Venice to paint a gigantic work of public art celebrating the Battle of Lepanto. Scenes From an Execution unfurls in 16th-century Venice. But give the people-and Potomac-some credit: The audiences who sat through this un-summery fare did exclaim over it. And theyвЂ™ve followed him with a dour double bill of Sarah KaneвЂ™s Crave and Neal BellвЂ™s Somewhere in the Pacific. After all, theyвЂ™re staging Howard Barker, that grim and intransigent British playwright-hardly a popular choice. They will exclaim over you.вЂќ The older painter, Galactia (Jan Maxwell), doesnвЂ™t take this advice-nor, seemingly, does the Potomac Theatre Project.

In Howard BarkerвЂ™s 1990 play Scenes From an Execution, a young painter tells an older one: вЂњGive the people what they want, and they will love you. He teaches acting and directs for the Boston University Opera Institute.The Doge days of summer: Scenes From an Execution Stan Barouh

He also served as Artistic Director for the OlneyВ Theatre Center, whereВ directing credits include Democracy, Brooklyn Boy, Copenhagen, The Laramie Project, Art, The Miracle Worker, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding MusicalProduction), Theatre JвЂ™s Collected Stories (received a Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Direction), and Look! We Have Come Through! (Charles MacArthur New Play nomination,В Co-created with Carole Graham Lehman).ДЄ member of the ActorвЂ™s Equity Association and the Society of Directors and Choreographers, Petosa is the current President of Stage Source, the New England association of theatre organizations and practitioners. PTP/NYC credits include Monster, Spatter Pattern, A Question of Mercy, Therese Raquin, Somewhere in the Pacific, Marisol, Dog Plays, Statements After an Arrest, Good, Brecht on Brecht, among others. Petosa hasВ directed Tom Stoppard and AndrГ© PrevinвЂ™s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at NYCвЂ™s Town HallВ and the operas Carmen (Peter Brook adaptation)В and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat among others. He also served asВ artistic director of the Boston regionвЂ™sВ New RepertoryВ Theatre from 2012 вЂ“ 2018.

He served as a professor and asВ director of the BUВ School of Theatre from 2002 вЂ“ 2018. Jim Petosa is Professor Emeritus with Boston UniversityвЂ™s College of Fine Arts.