Go See: Plays About Bars, In Bars
Monday, June 07, 2010
You’re at your favorite Providence bar, the good bartender is on duty, and you’re happily nursing your favorite drink. Meanwhile, you’re eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two men perched on barstools – one a Vietnam vet, another a soldier returned from the war in Iraq. The dialogue is so incisive, it sounds scripted. And it is.
The BarPlays festival, starting June 14 and running through June 27, consists of plays set in bars, performed in bars. The festival thrives on a fusion of space between audience and performers. During these weeks, local playwrights and casts will gather in local bars to entertain audiences. The bar “set” will still function as a bar throughout the evening, blending space between performers and audience.
The goal of BarPlays, say its creators, is to provide “audiences and casts a chance to avoid that slog between the theater and the bar after the show.” Really, though, it will challenge our artistic boundaries as well as raise funds for Perishable Theater.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIconic bars in the city like Trinity Brewhouse, Wild Colonial, AS220, Abe’s, Everyman Bistro, the Red Fez, E&O, and Nick-a-Nee’s will play hosts to casts and audiences. Some of these bars (Trinity Brewhouse, Wild Colonial) are lauded theater hangouts, while some (Everyman Bistro, Red Fez) regularly host performances like open mic nights and improv groups, and others (E&O) are so tiny and crowded that the directors themselves ask the audience to come by to see “how the hell theater is going to happen in a place like that.”
The plays are of an even greater variety than the bars, and all are less than 30 minutes. Some play titles specifically refer to the festival's unique fusion of spaces, like Tipping by Jill Blevins and Public Response by David Higgins, the festival’s founder.
“I think some of them are more traditional in terms of focusing on dialogue and language,” said James Celenza, the writer of the play about war veterans, “while some are more of a performance, visual rather than language oriented. Some will take up more of social or political context, others will be more personal, immediate to personalities of performers or playwrights.”
Either way, it's a novel experiment. “We’ll see what happens,” said Celenza. “There is only one way to find out. When the real thing happens it’s going to be very different.” To see the effect on the audience, head to your local watering hole June 14 – June 27. No cover or reservations, just tips to the bartender, and a cheer to the performers.
For a full calendar of all BarPlays performances and locations, go here.
