Let’s Start the ’06 Fringe
With One of Last Spring’s Triumphs -
Pig Iron’s “Love Unpunished”
Philadelphia Proudly Promotes it's own Fringe!
When I started to write for The Philadelphia Theatre Review
last year, I wrote several pieces on the possibilities of the various “Fringes.”
Well, I’m delighted to report that not only do New York and Philly have “Fringes”,
but Washington, DC has also started one. In the same vein, I’m happy to report
that the Live Arts/ Philly Fringe Festival (Sept. 1-16, 2006) is bigger than ever
and will feature 150 artists from the U.S. and abroad, performing in a variety
of venues, before a projected audience of 45,000.
Joining this cacophony of art/music/dance and theater will
be one of my favorite productions of last year, Pig Iron’s response to the 9/11
Twin Tower’s disaster, “Love Unpunished.” Up until this past May, nothing in
theater to my mind had touched that tragedy. Like the Guy Fawkes plot in England
or the sinking of the Titanic, 9/11 has changed the U.S.’s view of itself, its
place in the world and its sense of vulnerability, but there had been little
theatrical response.
I have to admit that initially I wasn’t uninterested but
ultimately Pig Iron’s “Love Unpunished” overwhelmed me. Set on a concrete “Exit”
staircase. the nine-member cast ascends and descends the stairs as different
characters at different times on that September day. The variety of their
lassitude, emerging panic, physical agility and bodily limitations demonstrates
in a detached yet horrifying manner the multitude of personal experiences that occurred
in the stair wells of the Trade Towers. Eventually the entire company ends at
the bottom. In a well-choreographed series of stumbles, tumbles and falls, they
reenact the final collapse. Great credit goes to the company, the director, Dan
Rothenberg, and the choreographer Mimi Lien for creating one of the most memorable
theatrical experiences of the 2005-2006 season.
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