By Deal Hudson
Special to Credo
Dominica’s
Smile, a new verse drama by Ann Arbor playwright, Ken Gaertner, ran five
weeks at the Grove Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, New York City.
Mr. Gaertner’s
latest dramatic effort had been widely touted by his supporters as a “must
see”
for those interested in development of Catholic arts.
Those who made their way to the small theater off Bleecker
Street were not disappointed. Mr. Gaertner’s is obviously a very talented
man who is willing to create characters who live, love and die in a world
filled with the exigencies of real faith.
Directed by Mark
Bloom, founder and artistic director of the Mystic Theatre, this production
of Dominica’s Smile was completely successful in
making the audience comfortable with a verse drama.
An evocative score by Kurt Vega
and original choreography by Keila Cordova and Alice Stock created the
atmosphere of mystery and danger where Mr. Gaertner’s highly-charged language
seemed at home.
Led by the
stunning Britta Jepsen as Dominica, the cast was superb both in handling
the twists and turns of poetic language and providing concrete
and differentiated characterizations. The latter
accomplishment was particularly important because Mr.
Gaertner’s plot, so closely tied to the coming and going of boats and tides,
was ever so closely
obscured by the mist of his seacoast California setting
in the early part of this century.
The story
turns around with the arrival of the young drifter Perry just after the
drowning of a local fisherman has left the town in grief. As a good deed,
Dominica takes Perry, played by James Edward Quinn,
into her home thinking that she and her husband Gary can find some purpose
in life.
In the face
of his wife’s considerable charm and energy, Gary’s protests are overcome
and the stage is set for Perry’s gradual seduction of Dominica’s
attention.
|
Although Perry’s
motives are never made entirely clear, it is Dominica’s reasons for betraying
her husband that we clearly care about Dominica is
reminiscent of many other dramatic heroines who can’t
by satisfied with the predictability of marriage to an unremarkable working
man.
Played by Christopher Brophy,
Gary is a
husband who lacks the strength to stand up to his
attractive wife.
________________________
“Mr. Gaertner’s final scene
should remind all
playwrights that they need
to return to the roots of
drama in religious ritual
and language, especially
Catholic worship.”
Their friends in the town, charmingly
played by Mort Forrest, Carrie Fredette, and Marilyn Posner, seem to know
that the presence of Perry in the
town will lead to another disaster similar to one they
had just been through.
Their fears turn out to
be well founded. But the play’s ending is not so much a protest against
human foolishness as it is of our constant need to rely
upon God’s grace and guidance in all
things.
Dominica discovers in the hardest
way that only faith can connect us to the everydayness she scorns.
Mr. Gaertner’s final scene
in which all the women invoke the protection of Mary is quite compelling,
and should remind all playwrights that they need to return to the roots
of drama in religious ritual and language,
especially Catholic worship. There is no doubt to where
Mr. Gaertner turns for inspiration, and
no doubt he has found it.
Deal W. Hudson is publisher and editor of Crisis
magazine. |
