Invisible City Theatre Company
www.invisiblecitytheatrecompany.com
In Residence at Manhattan Theatre Source
presents
CORONADO
By DENNIS LEHANE
Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal St., NYC, November 30 December 17, 2005
Directed by DAVID EPSTEIN
Costume Design MICHAEL BEVINS
Lighting Design DRISCOLL A. OTTO
Set Design DAVID EPSTEIN/ED MCNAMEE
Sound Design/Scenic Painter JOHN IVY
Stage Manager ALEXIS M. HADSALL
Press Representative DALE HELLER/SAM RUDY MEDIA RELATIONS
Cast
Waitress Elizabeth Horn
Gina Rebecca Miller
Will Lance Rubin
Patient Kathleen Wallace
Doctor Jason MacDonald
Bobbys Father Gerry Lehane
Bobby Avery Clark
Hal Dan Patrick Brady
Gwen Maggie Bell
CORONADO is a non-linear drama about the dark secrets of some small town denizens. Seeming to interact in a local bar over different nights, the characters ultimately reflect the hope of the future, or represent the shadows of the past.
Full of strong language and dark situations, this play is oddly intriguing in its simplicity and ability to provoke. Among those we meet are a young wife and her paramour, plotting murder, an older woman alternately seducing and threatening her married psychiatrist, and a father son pair of criminals in search of a stolen diamond. With time sometimes shifting with the dimming of a light, and a dose of perceptual sleight of hand, playwright Lehane reveals just enough at just the right times to make the presentation of CORONADO as full of in your face dark secrets as its characters are.
As required by the script, there is some strong acting here. Luckily, the actors are up to the often emotional challenge that comes from CORONADO. The staging options at Manhattan Theatre Source are extremely limited. This reality renders act 2 a bit choppy, as there are frequent scene changes and only one spot for the actors to be, but still well done. In fact the claustrophobic feel of the space is almost an advantage to the piece. Good costumes and music round out the picture.
I wont go so far as to say that CORONADO is something you have never seen before. Set in the proverbial local bar and full of less than stellar characters, the basics here are shared with numerous other works. Yet, in skewing the structure to make this a play about time as much as place, and in so doing adding something unique to the mix, Lehane has done just enough to be different. Sometimes, that is all it takes.
- Kessa De Santis -