Thursday, July 14, 2016

Ken: a review of a new play

On Sunday, I had an opportunity to see the premier of a new play.  "Ken" was presented by the Savannah Community Theatre and played at the Muse Arts Warehouse, a small playhouse at one end of an old railroad freight depot which was a perfect setting for a play about a train ride across the country. 

The play is told through the eyes of Arnold, a drama student at Yale University during the 1930s.  He couldn't afford to go home, so he takes a job working in a hospital.  But as everyone leaves for the summer, he is feeling sorry for himself.  Then an opportunity occurs when a fellow student is found dead.  Arnold had known Ken but wasn't a close friend, but is asked by the school to accompany his body back to Portland Oregon.  Seeing a chance to travel, he agrees.  Along the way, he meets a young woman also traveling back to her family in Seattle after her year in school.  With a ten hour layover in Chicago, they head off to the World's Fair.  They enjoy a wonderful meal in the "air conditioned dining car.  They see the ravages of the depression and the dust bowl.  As they head west, there are travelers heading for vacations at Yellowstone and Glacier who sit across from others who are essentially refugees, fleeing their dried up farms. Arnold falls asleep as the train is split in Eastern Washington.  To his horror, he realizes that the body didn't make the Portland train and he feels horrible.  But all works out as the body is sent down from Seattle.  Arnold finds himself becoming more concerned about the feelings of others and is able to console the family.  He even decides to stay in Portland and work for the summer before heading back to Yale in the fall.

The story is told through two Arnold's.  The younger Arnold, who does the acting, is a college student.  The second Arnold is the narrator and a man twenty-five years older who looks back at what he learned that summer.  Ken is based on a short story of the same name by Arnold Sundgaard, which appeared in the New Yorker Magazine in 1959.  The story was based on the experiences of Sundgaard while he was a student at Yale.  It was produced by Stratton Leopold, a local man who has been very involved in the movies.  Leopold (whose family also owns the famous Leopold Ice Cream parlor in downtown Savannah) was a classmate of Sundgaard's son in the 1960s.  On behalf of the Sundgaard family, he asked another friend (Tom Coleman, III) about turning the story into a play.    A scoop of Leopold Ice Cream was given to each viewer of the play.


The set for the play was minimal.  A few long boxes served as the casket, waiting room seats, and train seats.  There was no curtain and the actors stepped out from behind a dark wall.  Most of the actors played multiple roles. One man would appear dressed as a train conductor, an undertaker or a farmer down on his luck.  A woman might appear as a secretary, mother, or a farmer's wife.   On a screen high above the stage old photos of train stations and sights along the way were shown, which helped set the mood. I enjoyed the play but then again I have a think for trains.  I've taken the Great Northern Route (Empire Builder) from Chicago to Seattle and could easily visualize the sites screen along the way.  The play is still a work in progress, but I came away with the understanding they hope it will be performed again.  If you get a chance, I recommend you check it out.

24 comments:

  1. Since I live in Portland I find this very interesting.

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  2. I've never seen a play. I need to get out and try new things!

    I like how it's told by a younger Arnold and an older Arnold. That makes for good back story, comparison, growth and, of course, story telling.

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  3. Truly a remarkable production --and review. Over the years, this family has had a good deal to do with theatre-arts and I am always impressed with what stagecraftpersons can accomplish with a well-used minimum. Nicely recounted, Sage.

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  4. That sounds really good. I enjoy stories where it's told from different POV of the same person.

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  5. That sounds really interesting. It's amazing sometimes the story that can be told with a minimal set design.

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  6. As you described this, I wondered how that could be translated on stage. It sounds like an interesting approach and an interesting story.

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  7. You live in such a great place. I'd love to see that. I haven't been to Savannah since a young friend was married there about five years ago.

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  8. I haven't been to a play in so long. "Ken" sounds very thought provoking. I'm interested in learning more about the play and or story.

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  9. This sounds quite interesting. I love going to local play productions. I'm always impressed by how well they do with very little at hand.

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  10. Minimalism on set is so good a staging for the performers. Those are the plays I truly like to see. Any play or movie about a journey of the mind while the traveler moves through the landscape always catches my attention.

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  11. The play sounds fascinating. I looked up the story in the New Yorker online archives. Arnold Sundgaard was an excellent writer.

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  12. Gosh, what's not to like? A good play and free ice cream. The body-getting-lost theme is always deliciously creepy.

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  13. I still have a few more years to wait for the girls to be old enough that my wife and I can start going back to watching plays again. I have never seen a bad play.

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  14. That's the world fair where the Devil in the White City was set, isn't it? The play sounds delightful. So glad you wrote about it today.

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    1. Lee, No, the Devil and the White City was in the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Interestingly, Chicago had both fairs during national depressions which may be why they haven't had a third!

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  15. That sounds really interesting. Maybe not my kind of thing but glad you enjoyed it.

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  16. the story of this play sounds really intriguing. i will have to keep an eye out for the local play houses to see if any of them are doing it.

    Nepal was amazing. I had to take a jungle trail everyday. It was a 5.5 mile hike from where i stayed to the the school where i taught. was an awesome journey each day. so many people to meet and so much to see.

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  17. I always worry when a play has more than one geographic character. More than one and the process of acceptance, or suspension of belief, which can be readily done for one is broken leaving one to question the whole. Good plays should grip you by the throat and wring you emotionally dry on their first seeing. Really good plays prevent you analysing on the second. And utterly brilliant ones forces you to read the darn thing.

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  19. Oh my goodness, I've taken the Empire Builder so many times, from Minnesota as far as Portland and we even took it for a weekend in Chicago once! My favorite station of them all was in Whitefish Montana! Now about that play, it sure sounds so very interesting, and especially the two voices throughout. You find the most entertaining things to read and see!

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  20. It sounds pretty interesting! Thanks for the review.

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