Theater Review: RESCUE ME at Ma-Yi

April 3rd, 2010Blog4 comments

Ma-Yi Theater Company is the foremost incubator of Asian American theater work in the country, and from its cauldron has sprung RESCUE ME, an awesome piece of theatrical joy that recognizes the power of FUN and comes complete with snacks.

Written by Michi Barall and directed by Loy Arcenas, RESCUE ME is an adaptation of Euripides’ Iphigenia In Tauris, something that may sound dry to the casual reader. “Ancient Greek play” is a phrase that is often synonymous with snoring. But man, this is Iphigenia through a lens of action, humor and motion — the King of Tauris is a pink-suited Elvis dude, there are funky, moving musical sequences, and there are free snacks passed out by Professional Virgins at the intermission. Yes, this is the only play I’ve ever seen that comes with snacks.

In Barall’s rendition, Iphigenia (Jennifer Ikeda) is a spunky, lost heroine — she says that she’s “thirty four years old, single, and she hates her job”, which is to serve as the priestess of Tauris and throw human sacrifices to their deaths. Through the manipulations of the gods she rediscovers her long lost brother Orestes just as she realizes that she must sacrifice him to Artemis. For brother and sister this will not do, so they work together to escape back to their Greek homeland.

There are many notable things about this production, but the moments I enjoyed the most were the play’s musical movement/dance sequences. Usually when things like these occur in theater I start checking my email on my iPhone, but these sequences were extremely well done and hit me pretty hard in the heart. “Emotion” and “dance” rarely intersect in me, so this by itself is a pretty great feat. Also the characters are incredibly well-realized — one of them is a very cute sheep puppet — and the whole show is really FUN. Never underestimate the power of fun. Plus the entire show is deconstructed as it’s being told, and the fourth wall is blown away repeatedly. There are snacks, also.

I really like shows that set about doing things that the medium of theater can accomplish but no other medium can: Be a forum for live, colorful, participatory storytelling that pulls you in because it’s occurring right in front of you. Plus movies, TV, books, etc., can’t give you snacks. RESCUE ME gives you snacks.

My friends, go see it.

March 23rd – April 18th, 2010 – Tue-Sat 7:30pm; Sat-Sun 2:30pm
Ohio Theater | 66 Wooster Street, NYC
Ma-Yi Theater Company