
From Hotel Torgo, a shambling documentary about the making of the epic Manos The Hands of Fate
"The word 'Israel' is not uttered at all in Glengarry Glen Ross, but that long-contested homeland hangs like a specter over David Mamet's play. The real estate office where aging salesman Shelley Levene struggles to survive is, if anything, a battleground where land takes on symbolic, even spiritual value in ways the outside the world simply cannot understand."or
"The word 'Ireland' is not uttered at all in The House of Blue Leaves, but that mythic isle hangs like a specter over John Guare's play. The Queens suburb where the Shaughnessys play out their dangerously dysfunctional marriage, against a backdrop of Catholic shame and a terrorist bombing, is, if anything, a satellite of old Erin, a land of absurd poetry and deep-seated conflict the outside world simply cannot understand."It's almost like every playwright's ancestral country of origin provides a readymade cultural/dramatic template with which to view their work.
This upcoming fall Kennedy Theatre in Honolulu will present the present the world premiere of Uncle Vanya and Zombies by Anton Chekhov and Marcus Wessendorf.
Blurb for Uncle Vanya and Zombies:Society has collapsed, Honolulu is a wasteland, and zombies are roaming the island O'ahu after a recent accident on one of the nuclear submarines off Pearl Harbor. To increase their ratings, a major network has turned the Kennedy Theatre into a television studio for their regular broadcasts of their new reality show Masterpiece Theatre and Zombies. The contestants on this show not only have to act in a classical play but also to survive its performance to win a flight into a "safe zone" or coupons for food no longer available to regular civilians. The major challenge for the contestants is to stay in character and get through the performance alive while fending off zombies released into the arena by the popular host of the show. After the peak ratings of last month's The Tempest and Zombies, the producers have decided to go for a classic example of realism this time, Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1897).Uncle Vanya and Zombies will be performed at Kennedy Theatre on November 9, 10, 16 and 17 at 8pm, on November 18 at 2:00pm.