Satori Group, a birthing ensemble-based theater with 11 co-artistic directors, postpones its planned departure to Seattle with two area premieres to add to the chock-full fall season: Daniel MacIvor’s dangerous contempo social satire “Never Swim Alone” and Charles Mee’s “The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador,” both at the Carnegie in Covington.
Satori, an honest-to-goodness experimental theater in the making, added some pepper to the theater scene in August with a site specific production of “Hello Again.”
Now the company – two CCM students, three CCM alumni and six Williams College alumni, including Cincy native Andrew Lazarow – will be here at least through November. (Other locals include CCMers Adrienne Clark, Acclaim Award Rising Star Anthony Darnell, Adam Standley, Clare Strasser and Lindsey Valitchka.)
First up: “Never Swim Alone,” Oct. 19-Nov. 4, already the busiest weeks of the theater season. (“Swim” makes it six opening for the week of Oct. 15.)
I read it a few months back courtesy of Lazarow. Two guys who look very alike come on stage, each with a briefcase. What makes them different: one is the first man. And one of them has a gun. Very smart and theatrical, “Never Swim Alone” debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival and won the Overall Excellence Award.
Lazarow will direct, inspired by the structure of NBC reality hit “The Biggest Loser.” OK, high concept. (I hope there’s a big scale.)
Satori goes site specific in November, taking “Investigation” into the Carnegie main gallery Nov. 8-17, where the drama will be sharing the space with the Glass Group Show. (Now that’s dangerous.)
According to the NY Times, “Investigation” is “T.S. Eliot crossbred with Wallace Shawn….In language and attitude Mr. Mee has captured the death-in-life decadence of his characters.” Lazarow promises the play “draws dynamically from contemporary art, musica, video pop cvulture and foreign policy.” Whee!
It makes you hope they stick around for a while. Ticket info is at Carnegie box office: 859-957-1940.
Lazarow, meantime, is, with the help of Standley, directing “Drag,” an entry in playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’ “365 Days/365 Plays” experiment, by E-MAIL.
Directors from all over the U.S. were contacted and invited to direct the short play, says Lazarow, “to see if a short play could be directed with the directors never appearing in the rehearsal room.” The purpose is to offer the audience a sample of viewpoints from around the U.S.
“Drag” plays Saturday at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Jackie Demaline
