by Macey Levin
The first annual Downtown Upstate festival brings the best of NYC downtown theatre artists to the Hudson Valley, featuring three different shows at two different venues over three consecutive weekends. Downtown Upstate will also include playwriting, acting, and solo performance workshops for local residents. Presented by Ancram Center for the Arts & The Stissing Center (Pine Plains). Produced by Soho Think Tank with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Downtown Upstate is the brainchild of Soho Think Tank’s Artistic Director Robert Lyons, who recently wound down operations of the legendary New Ohio Theatre in Manhattan’s West Village after more than 30 years as Artistic Director.
Next two shows:
PUZZLING EVIDENCE
September 14 at 7pm, September 15 at 2pm
at Ancram Center for the Arts
PLAYS
September 21 at 7pm, September 22 at 3pm
at The Stissing Center, Pine Plains
The first presentation of Downtown Upstate is Marguerite Duras’ La Musica Deuxieme at Ancram Center for the Arts. Duras is also known as a screenwriter having created the script for Hiroshima, Mon Amour. La Musica… is the second act of a play she wrote in 2004. It is focused on an estranged couple, Michel Nollet (Taylor Valentine) and Anne-Marie Roche (Matilda Woods,) who meet the evening before their
divorce becomes final. It occurs in the hotel room where they lived happily before they moved into their new home at the beginning of their marriage four years earlier. She knew the marriage was in trouble the first day they were in the house and he said he wanted to leave it.
Through the evening Michel and Anne-Marie experience a wide range of emotions… hate, vengeance, and love… as tensions continue to evolve They demean each other, laugh together and reminisce about the better times tainted by regret. Each also admits committing infidelities. Michel confesses that he considered killing her, and she counters by saying she had contemplated suicide. There is a passion under the entire conversation bordering on potential violence that doesn’t happen. They seem to be testing the possibility of remarrying though both are to be married in the near future. At times their exchanges feel like a cat-and- mouse game. Woods’ Anne-Marie is more controlled than Michel. She restrains many of her emotions while he is more intense. Both of them are likable and unlikable.
The play starts as the audience is filing in. In back of a dimly lit scrim (a gauze curtain that can be seen through when lit from the rear) the two actors appear undressed. They dress, stretch and speak on opposite sides of the set, the lighting becomes somewhat brighter. As the scene goes on they interact which may be inerpreted either as a flashback to their marriage or, perhaps, a hope for the future. When fully dressed they cross into the downstage set comprised of two easy chairs, a straightback chair and a couple of tables with several accoutrements and the dialogue begins.
Occasionally Michel and Anne-Marie speak directly to the audience in the midst of longer speeches. Another conceit has Michel descend from the stage several times to walk in front of the audience while talking to them. Anne-Marie joins him toward the latter part of the play and we are included in their most intimate moments together and apart. Woods and Valentine have performed in the play several times. They have developed an insight into Duras’ intentions that gives the dialogue credibility. It is difficult not to believe in them. Director Jessica Burr has created effective stage pictures adding textures to the characters’ physical relationships. The pace of the production is tight as it races forwaard. Despite touches of humor and some light moments, La Musica Deuxieme is a dark and intriguing play by a masterful writer.
La Musica Deuxieme by Marguerite Duras; Director: Jessica Burr; Cast : Matilda Woods (Anne-
Marie Roche) Taylor Valentine (Michel Nollet); Lighting design: Jay Ryan; Sound design: Laura
Galindo; Costume design: Sara Borgeau; Production stage manager: Rebecca Whitney Klein;
Running time: 70 minutes, no intermission; 9/7-9/8, 2024; 518-329-0114; info@ancramcenter.org