Circle Mirror Transformation on stage
If you are an actor, or if you have ever taken an acting class, I am certain you will be hooked by literally the first word spoken in Circle Mirror Transformation, by Annie Baker, now playing at 12th Avenue Arts and produced by Strawberry Theatre Workshop . I know I was. It cracked me up, too. The play is a comedy constructed around a six-session summer acting class. It’s led by fifty-something Marty. The students are Schultz, a carpenter, recently divorced; Theresa, a former actor, also recently split with her boyfriend and moved to Vermont to create a new future; Lauren, a high-school student with dreams; and James, Marty’s husband, also previously married. The play is funny the way life is funny. When we put ourselves in corners and try to work our way out. When we don’t know what to say. When we say too much. When we learn something about ourselves only in the moment when we say it. I laughed a lot. You learn about the characters' pasts, and possible futures, as they participat...