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| the cast photo by John Groseclose |
Click here for more information on this production that runs through September 22nd.
"...one of Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker's latest plays, The Antipodes...may be a drama with a somewhat vague and meandering plot, it makes for an intriguing study into the current status of storytelling and also how the drive to have a finished work be as successful as possible can impact the creative process in not exactly positive ways. Stray Cat Theatre presents the Arizona premiere of Baker's play in a thought-provoking production with an excellent cast and pinpoint direction....Is The Antipodes an absurd satire, or a cautionary tale on how corporate think tank worlds have taken over the Hollywood creative process? Is it a reality check on how there are no original stories left to tell, or how the stories we've been told in our past can take on a life of their own to the point where, over time, we embellish them with unrealistic details but retell them with such conviction that we believe they are factual? Or, does it show that one single writer can still come up with a story that is entirely original and completely engaging? I believe it's all of the above.... " -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
"..a brilliant piece of writing...The setting is a conference room where a team of writers has been assembled to create ... something. ..The writers tell stories, some crude, some sweet, some of dubious veracity. They wax absurdly philosophical and fawn anxiously over their charismatic but autocratic leader. ...but there’s just so much happening between the lines. ...through all the complicated social subtext, and even with little to no backstory, each character emerges as an idiosyncratic individual, either brash or guarded or head-in-the-clouds, all with subtle notes to add to the broader theme. This is a credit to director Ron May and his excellent cast...a production worthy of one of the most challenging (some would say frustrating) playwrights of her generation...." - Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic (click here to read the complete review)
"..The intentional ambiguous nature of what occurs and what is spoken may frustrate, particularly during those moments where the team are exhausted and remain silent... it’s ultimately May’s staging of the script along with good, high-energy performances from all the cast that impresses the most...... " -David Appleford, Valley Screen and Stage (click here to read the complete review)
"THE ANTIPODES is Annie Baker's mind-bending exposure of the functions and frailties of the narratives we create to define and explain reality. Her focus on story telling ... is an ingenious cover for a foray into deeper and more aggravating questions of an existential nature......a cohort of seven brainstormers inside a sterile conference room... are tasked by their team leader to create (and here's the rub) we're not quite sure what. Whatever it is, they are directed to tell stories as the prescribed pathway to the desired result.....On and on it goes to an ending that simply ends. No answers. But lots of time to contemplate what it's all about....May has, as he usually does, a theatrical experience of the highest order....... " - Herbert Paine, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)
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