Bury the Dead
Performances:
April 22 – May 21, 2011
Thurs – Sat at 8, Sun at 3pm
Additional press performance on Tuesday, April 26 at 7pm
Additional matinee on Saturday, May 7 at 3pm
Live Bait Theater
3914 N. Clark Street
By Irwin Shaw
On a battlefield in the second year of the war that is to begin tomorrow night, six dead soldiers killed in action inexplicably stand up and refuse to be buried in their graves. The response from the military, the public and the soldiers’ families is by turns horrific and heartbreaking.
…heart warming scenes and thought provoking as well. This is a powerful story with some very strong acting from a fairly new theater company that has a lot to say. … The scenes between the men and their women were marvelous pieces of work and worth the price of the ticket alone. This is a play that will make you think. About the wars our government gets us into and in particular the effect it has on our young men and women who join the military, the families and loved ones they leave behind and the memories they may never have.
The cast…handle tricky, poignant scenes with grace and guts.
Promethean does a marvelous job making this a timeless story. The actors succeed through subtlety and deep emotions that don’t overdo it. [Anne Korajczyk] is particularly strong and convincing as the selfish wife, who would rather see her husband buried so she can cash in on the army benefits that come with his death. And Shawna Tucker and Quinn White create a realistic portrayal of the doting mother facing the horror of her son’s disfigurement.
Director Beth Wolf wisely keeps the action scaled to the intimate dimensions of the Artistic Home’s storefront auditorium, making for a spartan stage picture as her mostly young actors deliver emotionally intense performances transcending the propagandist archetypes they portray.
…incredibly, painfully moving. Wolf’s staging…comes alive. The actors playing the soldiers deliver poignant, spellbinding explanations for why they’re not ready to leave the world yet, many of them having to do with simple joys—nice weather, pretty girls, cold beers—but, as Emily discovers postmortem in Our Town, it’s the everyday things that can break your heart. Similarly, it’s in these quiet, unadorned moments that Wolf’s production is at its most eloquent and Shaw’s antiwar argument is at its most convincing.
Production Staff
Director: Beth Wolf*
Stage Manager: Sharla Nolte*
Set Designer: Aaron Menninga
Lighting Designer: Liz Cooper
Costume Designer: Paula Consdorf
Props Designer: Melissa Schlesinger
Sound Designer: Claudette Perez
Production Manager: Bethany Schrader
Photography: Tom McGrath
*Indicates PTE Ensemble Member
**Indicates PTE Artistic Associate
Cast
Morgan: Joel Kim Booster
Joan/Reporter: Janeane Bowlware
Julia/Second Whore: Brit Cooper Robinson
Sergeant/Charley: Parke Fech
Levy: Jared Fernley
First Soldier/Doctor: David Fink
Bess Schelling/Bevins/Soldier: Sara Gorsky*
Katherine/First Whore: Alexandra Keels
Martha Webster/NPR Voice/Soldier: Anne Korajczyk*
Driscoll: Carl Lindberg
Second Soldier/Editor: Marco Minichiello
General/Rabbi: Jim Morley
Schelling: Brian Pastor
Webster: Dylan Stuckey
Mrs. Dean/Soldier: Shawna Tucker*
Captain/Priest: Ben Veatch
Dean: Quinn White
*Indicates PTE Ensemble Member
**Indicates PTE Artistic Associate