https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-pt66i-c891e1
Circle Mirror Transformation
by Annie Baker
Directed by Misty Megia
Livermore Arts
Tickets: https://lvpac.org/
Synopsis:
When four lost New Englanders enroll in Marty’s six-week-long community center drama class and begin to experiment with harmless games, hearts are quietly torn apart and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won. Circle Mirror Transformation is a charming and beautifully-crafted diorama, a petri dish in which we see, with hilarious detail and clarity, the antic sadness of a motley quintet.
Taught by Marty, their free-spirited and supportive leader, the group — Schultz, a recently divorced, emotionally vulnerable carpenter, Teresa, an earnest and vibrant former actress, James, Marty’s quiet and genial husband, and Lauren, a reserved and self-conscious high schooler — move through a series of acting exercises, ranging from the heartbreaking to the ridiculous. Over the course of the seemingly trivial games, their emotional wounds are revealed, nursed, and healing slowly begins. Winner of the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play, Annie Baker’s quiet masterpiece explores the human condition and the subtle yet powerfully transforming effect we have on others through our words and indirect actions.
Directed by Misty Megia, Circle Mirror Transformation will run for eight performances at the Bothwell Arts Center from November 15-24, 2019. The East End of the Bothwell Arts Center provides the perfect setting for the play which is set in a similar community center in Vermont. Megia directed last year’s acclaimed production of RED by John Logan at the Bankhead Theater, the first play self-produced by Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center. Read an interview with Misty Megia here.
“Annie Baker’s play is an absolute feast… the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the
streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word…”—New York Times
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Carly Ozard provides the music for this episode