Take a look at the Studio's alumni page, and I'm sure you'll recognise a number of the famous faces that have come through the doors over the past 45 years (Edward Norton, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Peter Sarsgaard, just to name a few - and they also serve as Honorary Board Members now). I also love that the company maintains a page on its website called "Look Who's Working!", to track the career development of their peers. A wonderful, supportive idea!
You'll be relieved to learn that I don't have any desires to tread the boards myself any time soon; rather, my purpose for visiting the Studio and Theater tonight (tucked away on the 7th floor of an unremarkable building) was to see "Philadelphia, Here I Come" by Irish playwright Brian Friel. It's the first play in the company's 2014-15 season and I ended up sitting in the very front row, almost eyeball-to-eyeball with the actors in such a small theatre space. I loved every minute of it.
The play was written in 1964, and is set in a small town in Ireland. It takes place on the night before a young man leaves his home (and his widowed father) to join his aunt and uncle in Philadelphia. The relationship between father and son is already pretty strained, and the young man's impending trip weighs heavily on both of them.
Family dynamics aside, if you've ever left home and gone somewhere new, you will relate to this play immediately. The clever thing is that two actors actually play the young man. One of them performs his physical self and interacts with the other characters, and the other actor is the young man's inner self - voicing all those things the young man thinks and feels, but would never say aloud.
For me, the play really made sense. I have felt the push-pull of knowing you need to leave home, but not being able to articulate a decent reason why. Just like in the play, right before a trip I've also specifically noticed those "lasts" - the last time I'll sleep in my own bed, the last time I'll hang the laundry outside, the last time I'll play with the dog. And just like the young man in the play, I know how it feels when ordinary moments suddenly take on real gravity - like you're committing them to a film that you'll replay in your mind over and over.
The original Broadway production of "Philadelphia, Here I Come" opened in 1966 and ran for over 300 performances. It was nominated for two Tony Awards and a film version was released in 1975. The cast in this latest production have rich material to play with - tragic, comic, and a pleasant Irish brogue to boot. All the actors did a wonderful job in their roles.
I'm so glad I finally discovered the T Schreiber Studio and Theatre, and I'm going to get myself on their mailing list, to be sure!
