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Resonance Ensemble to Construct a Glass House and Depict a Master Builder
Two plays using architecture as metaphor come to the stage
Photo: Jon Kandel
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As anyone who has studied architecture can tell you, buildings can have as much presence and character as people. Just look down the street anywhere in this city, and you’ll inevitably find a number of constructs each with its own unique face, age, and history, each exuding its own presence or physical bearing; from aged, wizened brownstones which have stood the test of time, to brand new towers of shimmering steel and glittering glass which serve as a testament to the future, architecture is all about the character of the place, and in both life and fiction, can greatly reflect the stories of those housed within. This basic tenant is behind the premises of the two plays debuting at the Resonance Ensemble this Spring.
June Finfer’s The Glass House, is a study of the intimate creative link and sometimes tenuous relationship between a hired artist and the matron for whom he must shape a given work of creativity. In this instance, the tale revolves around Edith Farnsworth, a medical researcher and World War II physician who hired renowned architect Mies van der Rohe to build her a country retreat constructed entirely out of glass, and the subsequent competing glass habitation constructed by Philip Johnson. The work uses the idea of a house, a place meant to act as a haven against the world in everlasting permanence, constructed out of as breakable a material as glass, as metaphor for the give-and-take between art and personal conception of art. The play features Harris Yulin, Janet Zarish, Gina Nagy Burns and David Bishins, and is directed by Evan Bergman
Being presented in conjunction with the first production is Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder, an insightful “deconstruction” of the price of obtaining success in the modern world, where the castles which we build for ourselves in order to achieve greatness may in fact keep us from obtaining true happiness. The play centers on Halvard Solness, an architect who has risen to the top of his profession, but at the expense of alienating himself from his wife and those around him who he has used to obtain his prominent position. When Hilda Wangal, a young woman from Solness’ past reappears in his life, he must face the reality of the tower on which he has placed himself, both figuratively and literally. The new production features Pun Bandhu, Peter Judd, Brian D. Coates, Susan Ferrara and Chris Ceraso, and is directed by Eric Parness. Both shows run from May 9th–June 5th at Theatre Row’s Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd St). For more information, please visit www.resonanceensemble.org.