Theatre can be magical. The Invisible City Theatre Company production of CORONADO is just that. It is also the most intimate and visceral experience I’ve had at a play in years.
A small stage on MacDougal. A Honky-Tonk. The waitress reads a book between customers. Enter Will and Gina, our first duo. And immediately the audience is transported to another reality by director David Epstein and the Invisible City Theatre Company. Two hours of eavesdropping upon a series of conversations. Lust and dreams, evil and regret.
The cast is to member unforgettable. The unfolding story is impossible to take your eyes off of. The sparseness of the production adds to the strength of the play. The palpable hunger between actors Lance Rubin and Rebecca Miller gives way to the sadly contemporary and sexually complicated relationship between Kathleen Wallace and Jason MacDonald. When players Gerry Lehane and Avery Clark take the stage they command your attention. Their hatred is peeled away one layer at a time until all that is left is a climax both inevitable and heartbreaking. Dan Patrick Brady’s portrayal of Hal is letter perfect. Maggie Bell’s Gwen is a brilliant mixture of youthful strength and worldly naiveté. An intelligent, passionate, often desperate and sometimes humorous evening of theatre. CORONADO is not to be missed.
Novelist Dennis Lehane has written fantastic raw material. Known in the literary world for his ability to do dialog like no other and use that dialog to forward plot, the jump to playwright has proven seamless. David Epstein has taken a terrific cast and left his stamp as a director on that material with a signature that will be hard to match. With a Florida production in the works, and film rights sold Coronado may well change but the theatre on MacDougal has proven it doesn’t need to.
Artistic Directors Elizabeth Horn, Maggie Bell and David Epstein possess a creative energy that must be nurtured and watched. I strongly suggest that everyone who enjoys an evening of great theatre follow this Company. They’ve got a lot to say and they need to be heard.
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