first impressions
Friday, June 17, 2005
The Oregonian
"ELECTRA": Temporarily suspending its mission to offer ancient Greek plays in a style that comes as close as possible to what the Greeks may have experienced when going to the theater 2,500 years ago, the Classic Greek Theater of Oregon presents Stefanie Sertich's provocative, energetic, modern take on Sophocles' "Electra."
Sertich sets the play during the recent Croat-Serbian war. Yet she remains true to the Sophoclean core, which explores intensely primal passions: hatred culminating in matricide. That doesn't mean the Balkan setting is irrelevant, but that the real concern of this production is how the ever-repeating pattern of vengeance and violence colors human history.
To this end, Sertich makes some thoughtful but modest additions to the text -- for instance, adding two characters not in the original: Agamemnon and Iphigenia, the daughter whose sacrifice by Agamemnon became the motivation for Clytemnestra's murderous deeds.
Sertich's "Electra" is imaginatively conceived ... there are good performances here. Rather than offering us a larger-than-life Greek heroine, Michelle Hurtubise gives us an Electra who may sometimes be whiny and sometimes bratty, but is always recognizably real. This especially pays off at the production's end: As the long-awaited vengeance finally takes place, Hurtubise movingly conveys the overwhelming horror that this youthful Electra experiences when she sees the results of her blood-thirst.
Sertich's choreography is particularly strong. Whether ripping through space or methodically pounding the floor with feet and hands, the five-woman chorus's vivid movements give powerful expression to the message that, unfortunately, the beat goes on -- that in our modern wars, we continue to play out the same ancient story.
-- Richard Wattenberg Special to The Oregonian
©2005 The Oregonian
Review of "Darkstep and Dawning"
BY STEFFEN SILVIS
Willamette Week, Dec 24, 2002
I've never been wild about Matthew Zrebski's plays, [...] But his latest play, which could actually be an early work, shows he is capable of writing with some depth. [...] The story is quite interesting - the effect a young woman has on the lives of two men- and director Stefanie Sertich injects a quiet intensity that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. The ending is somewhat convoluted but still effective, and performances by Todd Van Voris, Michelle Seaton and the excellent Neal Starbird are strong. Another worthwhile set design by Robert Tollefson is an added bonus.
Intense ‘Money Shot’ delivers goods
BY JANINE ROBBEN
The Portland Tribune, Dec 25, 2001
Former Portlander Carole J. Dane came back from New York where she works for a bank to feed her body and writes plays to feed her soul for the world premiere of her play “Money Shot” at Stark Raving Theatre.
“Money Shot,” tells a Rashomon-like tale of two American documentary filmmakers in Bosnia. They’re after the behind-the-scenes story of an award-winning, world-famous photograph or “money shot” that depicts a woman, Claire, intervening to keep a soldier from executing a little boy.
“Money Shot” is a distressing, haunting, intense and thought-provoking play, solidly performed by the three actors who make up the cast: Joseph Fisher, Darcy Lynne and Rafael Untalan.
The plot of “Money Shot” revolves around the essential question: What is truth?
“Every single person can have a different idea of what truth is, and it can still be true for them,” an audience member observed at a post-premiere discussion with Dane and the play’s directors, Jan Powell and Stefanie Sertich.
Stark Raving Theatre, which bills itself as the Northwest’s leading producer of new works, is the first theater to stage “Money Shot.” The play isn’t perfect the first 10 minutes, at least on opening night, didn’t introduce the story as much as keep the audience from getting to it. But it, and Stark Raving’s production, are very, very engaging theater. Dane may be one playwright who actually will get to quit her day job.
