Insite

“Everything we do, it’s like it’s not us doing it, like we’re trapped in this grand narrative. And it’s like, maybe we’re trying to defy that narrative, or reinvent it, and I can’t…”

Jason Grote’s 1001 sometimes speaks for itself, and that isn’t always a good thing.

This relatively new piece by the MSU alum [sort of] chronicles the relationship between Alan, a Jewish New Yorker, and Dahna, a young Arab woman, through the legendary story of King Shahriyar and his wife, Scheherezade. It sounds like a fantastic idea, and it is. However, through arguably little fault of this particular production, cast, or direction, 1001’s multiple nonlinear narratives end up much like dance choreography: spinning in circles, dancing completely around what I’m sure was supposed to be a point. It is obvious that Grote had much ambition in penning this layered, sometimes moving, cross-cultural, post-9/11 dramatic comedy. He toys with convention, which is almost always a good thing. He creates vivid worlds, so different in texture and aesthetics that it is almost impossible to see them all interconnect, and when they do, it’s wonderful. Read more »

Hello Readers! Student Forum’s back with critiques of the Department of Theatre and Dance’s production of Molière, courtesy of Neil Baldwin’s Play Script Interpretation Class. Here’s one from Ally Blumenfeld, with two more in tow by Gillian Holmes and Hillery Brotschol: read on!

-Sara Wintz

“It’s only theater,” proclaims young Armande, the lover of infamous playwright Molière, moments before he steps forward into the white spotlights and passionate applause.

How incredible it is that a play should toy with the very nature of theater and reality, and at the same time leave me thinking in the moment that the lights went up and the actors ended their enthusiastic curtain call, “This is why I love theater.” How incredible indeed — that a play better classified as a workshop, that made use of no elaborate sets or costumes, that consisted mostly of fervent, fiery, masterfully-delivered dialogue and chilling moments of silence heavy with the weight of significance — that a play such as Molière could be performed by actors-in-training at Montclair State University with such powerfulness and profundity that it left me so inspired I might have floated back to my residence hall.

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