Curtain Call

Good question

By Jay Weitz

Even in the best of times, putting politics on the stage risks alienating a huge chunk of one's audience. But in these soul-trying times when politics permeates culture both high and low, political theater may be as necessary as it is unavoidable.

Writer and director Matt Slaybaugh, both with his former BlueForms Theatre Group and his current Available light [theatre], has never shied away from politics. Still, he's never been quite so overtly partisan as he is in Tomorrow is the Question. So be forewarned.

If the November 2006 election was the first time in the 21st century that most of the candidates you voted for actually won, however, Tomorrow makes for an unquestionably bracing two hours.

The ensemble of six—Acacia Duncan, Nick Lignofski, Eleni Papaleonardos, Michelle Schroeder, Ian Short and Jennifer Spillane—imbues each word with passion. Those words derive in part from the books, films and websites of the left.

Disciple of Anne Bogart that he is, Slaybaugh has also coupled the text with a movement vocabulary that makes the passion flesh.

What: "Tomorrow is the Question"

When: Through April 7

Where: Columbus Dance Theatre, Downtown

Web: avltheatre.com

Tomorrow is more than merely a screed against George W. Bush. It puts our time into a historical, mostly (but far from exclusively) post-World War II context to help us understand how we've gotten to this point.

The play parallels the New Orleans flood of 1927 with Hurricane Katrina, considers how the Marshall Plan envisioned a link between prosperity and security, traces the Republican Party's rebuilding after the defeat of Barry Goldwater, and follows the political education of Karl Rove, among other things.

Each of the actors also contributes a brief monologue that attempts to make the political personal. These vary in effectiveness but are surprisingly the least convincing sections of Tomorrow.

There is no sustained effort to present a "balanced" portrait of the current state of affairs. But that doesn't mean that someone on the right couldn't be as inspired in as equal and opposite a way as someone on the left might be. These are times that try our souls, but inspiration to think and to act can come from any direction.

April 5th, 2007