Open House
A week ago, I had the opportunity to go see a play. Usually not a big event in NYC. But this play was staged in a friend's living room. The Foundry Theatre presented "Open House" a play by Aaron Landsman in 21 living rooms throughout the five boroughs. And how appropriate, considering the play is about the City and all it's chapters, gentrification, neighborhood pride, commercialization, industrialization, "artification." Heidi Schreck and Paul Willis played the lead couple who, in a series of quick vignettes, reflected the experience of the "typical" NYC gen-exers who inhabit various parts of the city in multiple guises artists, speculators, lovers, friends, commuters. They were excellent and drew you into their reality. Our reality.
Aaron Landsman is making a small play about the big city. Small enough to be performed in people’s apartments and big enough to ask how we can actually live in the city now and into the future. The play follows two narratives: the evocative sales pitch of a real estate salesman named Three; and the story of Rick and Jane, a young couple trying to figure out how to sustain a relationship, start a family and live as active members of a city that is out of control. The Foundry has premiered critically acclaimed plays in spaces as diverse as The Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, a tiny art gallery on east 9th St. and St. Ann’s Warehouse to name a few. We’re thrilled to find another home for this new work … yours. OPEN HOUSE will be performed in people’s homes in communities across New York City, incorporating each neighborhood into each performance in each place. It’s instant theatre, it’s a small party, it’s a conversation you’ll be having for years – and what a way to meet your neighbors.
This was my first time in Ellen's --my friend-- home in Kingsbridge Heights, and, to be honest, I'm still not sure where her living room began and the staging ended. So I'm not sure if I can claim I've been to her home, I went to a play, or both. The furniture, which is hers (I'll assume because no one carried the couch away) may or may not have been rearranged for the event. There were people I chatted with after the play who were actually in the play. Did I talk with the actor or the character? Before the play began I had a conversation with another "theatergoer" and our conversation about the Bronx and other parts of the city that are being effected by gentrification was almost repeated verbatim during the play. That was scary. Maybe she was part of the whole evening. I don't know.
The play got a little clunky with the introduction of a narrator-cum-realtor, whose Soylent-Greene monologue foretold of the coming dystopian world (and real estate market) was a bit long and alternately heavy in comparison to actor's dialog.
The play has finished it's city run, but if you hear about a play going on in someone's living room, go.
