Iron Age Theatre&
The Montgomery County Cultural Center
Present
By Amiri Baraka aka Leroi Jones
Iron Age Theatre
&
The Montgomery County Cultural Center
Present
By Amiri Baraka aka Leroi Jones
The play is a seductive look at the incendiary state of race relations in America and one of the landmark plays from the 1960s. It opens at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival September 6 and runs September 7, 12, and 13 at the African American Museum of Philadelphia. The production will preview at the Centre Theater August 22-25 at 9pm. Call 610-279-1013 for information.
”Working on the Trolley gave me a feel for the power and risk of the dialogue. The play is full of uncomfortable language and ideas that caused some interesting reactions on the trolley.” stated Kate McLenigan who plays Lula in the play.
”The spontaneousness of the trip and the discomfort I felt hearing about ‘Uncle Tom’ on the platform at 69th Street helped me with my understanding of the play,” said Garrett Lee Hendricks who plays Clay, the African American who is controlled by the gaze of his fellow passengers in the script.
The actors saw an felt the reactions of real people to their lines. Many of the passengers were uncomfortable with the cast. The play’s intense, risky language could be heard throughout the car capturing the attention of the actors fellow passengers just as is does in the play.
The question of interracial relationships became more real and uncomfortable as the passengers watched McLenigan’s character Lula seduce Hendricks as the tormented black man Clay.
Iron Age Theater is known for unorthodox real world improvisations in rehearsals. Actors often are forced to live out their character’s lives in the real world or experience an event from the play in its real environment. The company believes this creates a richness for the actors and the audience they wouldn’t get from more traditional rehearsal methods.
”Dutchman” opens at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival September 6 and runs September 7, 12, and 13 at the African American Museum of Philadelphia.
The production will preview at the Centre Theater August 22-25 at 9pm. Call 610-279-1013 for information.
The actors from “Dutchman,” Amiri Barraka’s revolutionary play about race relations in America rehearsed on the 100 trolley into Philadephia’s 69th Street station. The actors, in character, performed the play as the regular passengers entered and exited the trolley on its 9pm and 947 runs.
According to Director John Doyle The play is a metaphor for race relations in America and the position of black men in society. “Performing the play in a real setting without the passengers knowing it was a play, was risky for the actors and helped them understand the complex relationship between these two people and the rage the black man feels,” said Doyle.
”I don’t know what was more difficult; to say the racially charged language or the romantic words in front of complete strangers who weren’t expecting it. I could feel the passenger’s anger but also their intense interest in what we were doing. I was aware of the characters in the acting moment but had a second awareness of the character in the play.” stated McLenigan.
Iron Age Theatre is one of the most exciting and challenging theatre companies working in Philadelphia. Critically acclaimed for doing gritty American dramas such as Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class,” Jeffrey Jones disturbing “Seventy Scenes of Halloween” and Tennessee Williams “Night of the Iguana,” Iron Age received rave reviews for last years production of the powerful African-American boxing drama “Coming of the Hurricane.” Known for very high production values and intense, improvisation driven acting, the company has been shattering audience expectations for over ten years.