Prospect Theater Project

Dead Man’s Cell Phone

Monday, June 7th, 2010 | Announcements, Coming Soon, Current Season, Home, News, Season 09-10 | No Comments

Dead Man’s Cell Phone, by Sarah Ruhl
Prospect Theater Project
520 Scenic Avenue, Modesto CA
(209) 549-9341 or
house@prospecttheaterproject.org
Friday-Sunday, July 23-August 15
Thursday (August 12), 8 pm
Fridays and Saturdays, 8 pm/ Sundays, 2 pm
$15

In one of Edward Hopper’s most famous paintings (Automat, 1927), a woman sits at a table, a cup of coffee in front of her. She is alone, as are most of the people in Hopper paintings, even when others are there to share the landscape. (See Nighthawks [1942] and Office at Night [1940].) Dead Man’s Cell Phone, by the young playwright (born in 1974) Sarah Ruhl, conveys much the same mood as Hopper’s paintings, though presented in a very different medium and a radically different style. It’s a play about disconnectedness –a comedy really, because, for all the seriousness of its theme, the play is really funny. (In some ways, Ruhl resembles Arthur Adamov, the now-forgotten offspring of the absurdist era in playwriting.)

The play’s protagonist, meek, mousy Jean (described by another character as “a paleish woman, sort of nondescript”) comes alive only when handing on to people she doesn’t know imaginary messages from a dead man she’s never met (while he was alive, that is). But she’s not much different from the other characters in Cell Phone. They all talk past each other, driven by their own self-fantasies or from a need to connect. Each of them presents a different picture of Gordon, the dead man, who, it transpires, was truly and utterly awful. The effect is pointillistic. Visual images come and go behind the actors, people swirl around them, their umbrellas on high and their cell phones at their ears. Disparate meetings and soliloquies coalesce to build a mood of separateness and misunderstanding, which is played out through each character’s incomprehension of the other characters’ motivations and inner fiber. What is surprising, though, is the humor in this play. In even the most savage passages (the “dead man’s” monologue in Act II, for instance), how funny the lines are! A love scene in the making is disrupted by a cell phone ringing and Jean’s inability not to answer it. Her wooer Dwight admonishes her. “Life is for the living,” he says. But the phone rings again and Jean, of course, answers it again. “When something rings, you have to answer it, don’t you?” she queries in another scene. My favorite line? The dead man Gordon delivers it: “Life is essentially a giant Brillo pad.” Our goodness is scrubbed off even as we leave the house in the morning to start the day.

“I try to interpret how people subjectively experience life,” Ruhl has said. “Everyone has a great, horrible opera inside him.” It’s also a terribly funny one.

- David Keymer, for the Prospect Theater Project

Open Auditions

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 | Announcements | 4 Comments

Prospect Theater Project Announces Open Auditions

Prospect Theater Project will hold auditions for its two upcoming productions on Saturday, May 23rd from 10am-6pm. Available roles are outlined below. The rehearsal process for PTP productions lasts approximately 4-5 weeks, and performances run for 4 weekends. Out of town actors are paid a modest gas stipend and all actors receive a free season subscription.

Auditions will be held at Prospect Theater Project located at 520 Scenic Drive in Modesto. To schedule an audition or get more information, please email auditions@prospecttheaterproject.org

Actors should bring a resume and a headshot, and be prepared for cold readings. A short monologue is recommended.

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Shakespeare Acting Workshops

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 | Announcements, Jack | No Comments

WHAT:  Two Acting Workshops

• Four-Week Shakespeare for Young Adults
• Four-Week Intensive Acting Shakespeare Workshop

WHERE:
Prospect Theater Project, 520 Scenic Drive, Modesto, CA

WHEN:
Saturdays beginning February 28 through March 21, 2009.

• Shakespeare for Young Adults 10:00-12:00
• Intensive Acting Shakespeare Workshop 12:00-3:00

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Save the Date!

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 | Announcements | No Comments

PTP is throwing the biggest party of the year. On March 21st, 2009, PTP will host its first annual Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves Ball. It will be an eclectic evening of art, music, dance, theater, food and wine, featuring local artists and the culinary wizardry of Chef Paul Tremayne. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting event!

To buy tickets, contact the box office, or buy tickets online through our ticketing partner, Brown Paper Tickets.