| Home | | | Past Issues | |
 |
|
|
|
 |
July 22, 2004
• 'The God Committee’ chooses organ transplant recipients 'The God Committee’ chooses organ transplant recipients Sheffield There are about 85,000 people nationwide waiting for organ transplants. One-quarter of them will die. "There are only about 10,000 donors," said playwright Mark St. Germain, whose concern over the situation has inspired his new play, "The God Committee,” which begins its world premiere engagment at Barrington Stage Company's MainStage tonight. Press opening is Sunday. For St. Germain, whose "Ears on a Beatle" premiered last summer in Barrington Stage's Stage II, it wasn’t only statistics. The father of a close friend had been on the waiting list for a transplant. Indeed, it was his friend’s situation that got St. Germain interested in the first place. (St. Germain's friend’s father was one of the lucky ones. He got his transplant two summers ago and recently bought a three-wheel "dirtbike" to ride with his grandchildren when they visit.) St. Germain began doing research -- reading articles, talking to people he knows on the transplant committee at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. The seven-character two-act play begins at the regular Monday morning session of a hospital heart transplant committee whose members will decide who will be on the official transplant list and who not. Suddenly, St. Germain explained by telephone from Sheffield, a heart becomes available and the committee must, under intense pressure, make a wrenching decision about who on the list will be selected to receive the heart. "It's actually more shades of '12 Angry Men’ than ‘Chicago Hope,’ " St. Germain said of his play. It hasn't been easy. "There is a certain amount of information you have to get out," St. Germain said. "But you also need characters who are three-dimensional and worth following.” The cast includes David Rasche, who has appeared often on and off-Broadway and on television and whose only other BSC credit is "Caio!" in 2001; Ron Orbach, who last appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" and who appeared in the Berkshires last summer in Berkshire Theatre Festival’s production of “Enter Laughing”; Amy Van Norstrand, whose numerous regional theater credits include Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Michele Shay, who received a Tony nomination for her performance in August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars.” Also in the cast are Armand Schultz, Kelly Hutchinson, and Gerrit Graham. St. Germain's extensive writing credits include "Camping With Henry and Tom" and the book for the musical "The Gifts of the Magi." His newest musical, “Stand By Your Man -- The Tammy Wynette Story,” has been produced at Goodspeed Opera House and will tour nationally this fall. His association with BSC artistic director Julianne Boyd extends back over many years. "I wouldn't have brought this play to anyone else," said St. Germain, who’s been working on "The God Committee” since November. St. Germain, who directed his own "Ears on a Beatle" at BSC and in New York -- where, despite mixed reviews, the play had a respectable off-Broadway run this spring -- has turned over the directorial reins on "The God Committee" to David Saint, artistic director of the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J. Saint has directed world premieres by, among others, Arthur Laurents, Wendy Wasserstein, A.R. Gurney, and Anne Meara. Among Saint's New York directing credits is the award-winning off-Broadway musical, “The Spitfire Grill.” "I've never worked with David before," St. Germain said. "Among the reasons I wanted someone else to direct this play is because it is far more difficult to stage than [the two-character] 'Ears on a Beatle.’ " It's been a good collaboration, St. Germain says. "Essentially, what audiences will see is my vision but there have been changes, if for no other reason than because of what these actors have brought to these characters." St. Germain has been at all the rehearsals. The process of rewriting and reshaping the material has been constant, he says. "At some point we'll have to freeze it," he said. "It’s tough to stop making changes. You know, the process for creating a play used to be longer. Forty years ago you could take a play out on the road before it came into New York. Now, the pressures are greater and it loads the dice so much more. It gets done at a place like Barrington Stage or Williamstown, for example, and you hope you get enough in. If you don’t get it the first time ...” The prospect of New York always looms large for a new play or musical.
"The main importance of New York," St. Germain said, "is that you can't get your play published without a New York production.” "Ears on a Beatle," for example, is being published in September by Samuel French, Inc., one of three major outfits (Dramatists Play Service and Music Theatre International are the other two) that license rights to a play or musical to professional and non-professional theaters and groups after a New York run. "Otherwise," St. Germain said, "a play can roam the regional theaters and develop via word of mouth.” "The God Committee" runs through Aug. 7 at the Consolati Performing Arts Center at Mount Everett Regional School in Sheffield. Performances are Tuesday evenings at 7, Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8, Friday afternoons at 2, and Sunday afternoons at 5. There also will be a matinee Wednesday, Aug. 4 at 2. Ticket information is available by phoning 528-8888. Jeffrey Borak can be reached at jborak@berkshireeagle.com. |
 |
  |
|
© 2010 New England Newspapers, Inc.
|
)
)
)
)
)
