Fri 2/5-Sun 2/28
The curtain rises on a poor, dusty shop with its dirty window obscuring the dark hostile night. A storekeeper is taking inventory. The door is flung open, letting in a lithe young black man. In this dance for two, the characters make hesitant approaches, circle, feint, threaten each other with gun & ice pick but scarcely make contact. The young man is a hunted man.
The storekeeper, a non-Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, is close-mouthed, suspicious, anxious to avoid self-involvement. The third dancer is Rosie, an 18-year old from Riverdale, who as wandered into the shop after losing her way with no illusions about her homeliness or about the encounter that has led to her troubles. The two men react to her with a sensitivity and concern that seem to diminish the furies within them. But not for long. The German is driven to revealing the truth about himself as the young man, faces his inexorable fate out there on the killing ground.
The play, directed by Greg White, is the next offering from the Ensemble Theatre. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays @ 8pm and Sundays @ 2pm through Sun 2/28.