summer freeze
DawnMonday night I was thoroughly gelid as I left the Shimberg Playhouse. Outside the heavy rain had yet to stop completely and it was cooler than I’d felt in months. Cold even. I turned on the defrost to clear my windshield, but it failed to break my chill. Maybe it’s all the new lights, but I’ve never seen fog roll over the Sykes building like that before.The streets were empty of cars all the way up Florida Avenue and it wasn’t even 11 yet. The only music that could have possibly fit the moment I surprisingly found playing on my FM radio. In my daze, I had forgotten it was Monday, not Sunday. The holiday weekend was on its way to a close.
I’d also forgotten how cold the Shimberg can get. I’m sure the content of the production contributed to my being glazed over. I had just seen a rehearsal of Frozen, Stageworks‘ latest play set to open Thursday night with an audience preview today.
Frozen, which received a Barclay Award in Britain (the UK version of a Tony) for best play of 1998, intertwines the lives of 3 strangers after the abduction and murder of a young girl. Not a typical American violent psych drama (it’s theatre, not tv after all), there’s not a lot to see on designer Scott Cooper’s austere set. It’s all in the words and the acting, John Burchett’s intricate lighting and Tracey Borgatti’s collage of sound.
Tied into the trauma of life in the modern world, Frozen is a debate of forgiveness v. revenge. In Britain, there is no corporal punishment. (How unAmerican.) Thinking ensues (Ditto.) Will the distraught mother (Monica Merryman) of a missing girl take the life of the murderer? Will the compassionate doctor (Janet Salem) empathize with the killer (Richard Coppinger) if she can find the path that led him to his actions? Maybe even love him? The cast is rounded off by Josh Goff as the prison guard(ian).
Frozen, directed by Anna Brennen (with lovely stage managers Soolaf Rashied and Mallory Scarritt), runs through 9.24.06.
Bring a hand to hold. And a sweater.
Tags: 366, non-profit, tampa, theater, worth it
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