QUAKE & FIRE: “after the quake” & “Playing With Fire” performed by SUNY Orange Apprentice Players
- Cost:
- Ticket prices are $14, general admission; $10, senior citizens, faculty and alumni; $4, students; and free for active duty military personnel.
- SUNY Orange
- 115 South Street, Middletown, NY 10940 United States
Additional Information
The student productions will enjoy a six-show run during the weekends of Nov. 7-9 and 14-16. Evening performances on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7-8 and 14-15 will begin at 8 p.m. with Sunday matinees on Nov. 9 and 16 set for 3 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at www.sunyorange.edu (click the events link on the home page and follow to online ticketing). Both plays contain strong language and adult themes and situations, and are not suitable for children.
The program begins with “after the quake” written by Haruki Murakami and directed by Cabot Parsons. In 1995, Murakami, one of Japan’s most highly regarded novelists, returned to his hometown of Kobe after a disastrous earthquake nearly destroyed the entire city. A collection of short stories inspired by this event, “after the quake” measures the aftershocks in personal lives after a catastrophe.
The central characters in “after the quake” live far from the physical devastation, which they witness only on TV or in the papers, but for each of them the massive destruction unleashed by the earth itself becomes a turning point in their lives. They are forced to confront an emptiness they have borne inside them for years. The play is a metaphor for the aftershocks of our personal lives as it blends fantasy, fact and fiction into the world of Murakami.
Action on stage then takes a comedic turn with “Playing With Fire” written by August Strindberg and directed by David H. Cohen. “Playing With Fire" is a character-based comedy, populated with Chekhovian characters. The play, one of Strindberg's rare comedies, was written in 1893 after the playwright found himself involved in a love triangle within a love triangle within a love triangle. Ultimately, all the characters are playing with fire as they endanger their own personal relationships.
“Quake & Fire” boasts a fine cast of characters including Dakota Cohen, Jazmin N. Jackson, Zarif, Sarah K. Hutchinson, Maylin Morales, Joseph Polichetti, Victoria Cottone, Billy Rittenhouse, Anwar L. George and Alan Moss.