On October 2, 2006, a man walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse & shot 10 schoolgirls, killing 5, before taking his own life. On June, 10, 2009 The Amish Project opened Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. On September 23, 2011, this highly-praised new script made its’ Chicago debut at American Theatre Company.
I liked the script but it is a play I would rather read than see performed. This script consisted of 7 characters: 2 being Amish, the rest being members of the surrounding community. I didn’t do my homework before seeing this show. In the first few minutes of the show, I assumed this was a 7-actor piece towards which they were taking a strange artistic and/or economic approach by casting only one actor. After reading up on the history of this script, I realized that playwright played all roles originally, so obviously other productions would regurgitate that idea. It made more sense to have one actress play all the roles when that actress is the playwright, because it would naturally infuse a sense of continuity and authentic expression of the playwright’s original intent. I don’t know if that fact translates to every re-interpretation of the script. There was a lack of clarity & a disconnect from the basis narrative at times. I wish they had re-imagined the script & cast 7 actors to play 7 parts because it would have been much clearer & emotionally effective.
Sadieh Rifai did pull it off, a feat in itself as these roles are all incredibly difficult challenges. She excelled in the more aggressive characters (especially as the gunman’s widow), which in turn caused the softer characters (namely the two Amish sisters) to get lost in the muddle. It would have been a cool idea if it had been an intentional element in the script--the reality of the victim getting lost in the drama of the aftermath. But this was an unintentional result of a lack of production-based support for the challenges of this role. The portrayal of the Amish sisters became increasingly difficult to discern from each other. Generally, I really dislike adults playing children, despite the skill-level of the actor; it would have been so much more emotionally effective to have little girls play little girls. It is an important dynamic to acknowledge the gunMAN versus the schoolGIRLS; the dynamic of his power play through attack on innocence was all lost.
Sadieh Rifai is a great actress; my complaints with the production have nothing to do with her quality as an actress. The faults in her performance stem largely from the lack of dramaturge on staff because her Amish characters lacked, not only the level of skill, but the her own level of confidence. She seemed to declare a more distinct ownership of the non-Amish characters. This production would have benefited insurmountably by the presence of a dramaturge.
Despite changing of the hats, the play largely maintained one note. That is not the fault of the actress, but the fault of the production staff. In a cast of one actor portraying seven different roles, the rest of the production needs to rise up to the challenge and provide technological & artistic innovations to support this actress needed in being the script’s sole ambassador. Moments of irony lost in the muddle, a little satiric lighting or a sound cue would have given this highly-skilled actress the support she needed to carry this show on her own. The set was sparse but well-executed and a great utilization of the theatre’s space.
In a cast consisting of one actor, it is unacceptable for the costume choices to be anything but impeccable. This was not the case, as our lone actor’s attire was sloppily constructed with puckered stitching more suited for a community theatre production. Her dress & apron were unflattering & ill-fitting. Her bonnet did not look authentic, more like a last-minute purchase made at a local costume shop. Her hair was twisted in a way that resembled authenticity but was executed incorrectly. If given the support of artistic production and a dramaturgically-based foundation, Sadieh Rifai had the acting chops to pull off this innovative script & provide an amazing production. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and we are left with a series of well-delivered, confusing monologues of the familiar community surrounding the seemingly-foreign community that was actually effected by this tragic loss.
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