This weekend I had the pleasure of viewing Prodigal Son (The Acclaimed New Play by Pulitzer, Oscar & Tony Winner John Patrick Shanley) by Redbud Productions. Directed by the dear Loretta Grimes whom I've mentioned a few times in my previous blog posts. An absolute joy to see this play. I spent much of the past few weekends in my Advanced Meisner course hearing Loretta, Tim and a few other students talk about the preparation they were doing for the show.
I have been lucky, and was introduced to the Redbud family over a year ago and what a pleasure it has been to be a part of this crew of people. Yes, the intent here is to review the play I viewed. But I feel its entirely necessary to point out the passion that these people put into their work. They truly care about the people who step into their doorway. It's an amazing feeling that I sensed from the first play I saw, through my first class and it continues. Great people, truly.
Back to the review - in Loretta's words "you have to make the audience feel something". Boy, did I feel something. There were moments I jumped in my seat, I nearly shed a tear during one scene. I can still see the actor and actress face looking out into the crowd as I'm writing this. This was a fully loaded play. There was tension, heart felt scenes, moments of tenderness, compassion, there were times where I wanted to shout "why!". I wanted to help some of the characters out, I felt so much teenage angst and wanted to shout "deep breath dude, physical violence isn't the solution" and all of this comes back to exactly what Loretta teaches in her classes.
There were some scenes deeply rooted in religion which I had to talk through to understand (gosh, I was raised in a Catholic house... but somehow have forgotten some of it) and some references to Nazi's which I tried to find the connection to. Thankfully it was explained to me as a resentment towards the religious structure. The end caught me off guard, but then again I should've expected so much! (Hint, there's no flux capacitor mentioned... but something along those lines).
The characters were as much physically acting as they were emotionally. Another true sign of Loretta & Tim's class. I followed the event on Facebook prior so I had the privilege of seeing the school where this took place too and that really helped me visualize even further what was happening.
Feel something. There was total connection to the audience, these people put everything into their characters and totally connected with them. I hate to give away what happens, so pardon my skimming of the details in this review. Especially since you've missed your opportunity to check out the Redbud version of this production. They already have the next slot planned this fall, and I can't wait to check it out!
I just want to say BRAVO to the cast & crew. You guys rocked it!
Oh, and seriously. If you're looking for a class in the Metro Detroit area (this ones in Ann Arbor); Redbud will amaze you!
http://redbudproductions.com/