Caryl Churchill's CLOUD 9 at Black Box PAC
By: BWW News Desk Jan. 18, 2017
This new production of Cloud 9 is directed by BBPAC Artistic Director Matt Okin, produced by Huey Esquire and Black Box Studios, and features a stellar mix of both BBS/BBPAC veterans and newcomers: Michael Egan, Michael Gardiner, Sara Giacomini, Danielle MacMath, Danielle Manente, Joseph Ramondino and Laurence Wallace, with Stage Manager/Male Swing Jason Felix.
Cloud 9 will play four weekends, from Thursday, February 9th through Saturday, March 4th at Black Box Studios' new home, Teaneck's Black Box Performing Arts Center (200 Walraven Drive. (just off Palisade Ave., GPS: 290 Walraven Drive), Teaneck, NJ 07666.
Cloud 9, the time-shifting comedy by the author of Top Girls, created a sensation with its 1981 Off-Broadway premiere, directed by Tommy Tune. Originally both parody and spoof of the Victorian Empire and its rigid attitudes, especially toward sex, the piece takes on new meaning in today's interconnected world. In Act One, there is Clive, a British functionary; his wife Betty (played by a man); their daughter Victoria (a rag doll); Clive's friend Harry, an explorer; Mrs. Saunders, who runs about dressed in a riding habit; Clive's son Edward, who still plays with dolls and is played by a woman; and Joshua, a native servant who knows exactly what is really going on. What really is going on is a marvelous send-up and a non-stop round-robin of sexual liaisons. The second act shifts to London in 1979, but for the surviving characters it is only twenty-five years later, and all those repressed sexual longings have evaporated along with the Empire.
Cloud 9 plays the following 12-performance schedule:
Thursday, February 9th, 8PM
Friday, February 10th, 8PM
Saturday, February 11th, 8PM
Thursday, February 16th, 8PM
Friday, February 17th, 8PM
Saturday, February 18th, 8PM
Thursday, February 23rd, 8PM
Friday, February 24th, 8PM
Saturday, February 25th, 8PM
Thursday, March 2nd, 8PM
Friday, March 3rd, 8PM
Saturday, March 4th, 8PM
Tickets are $20 ($18 for students/seniors) and are now available at www.blackboxpac.com/cloud. Group rates for 10 or more are available by calling (201) 357-2221. Tickets can also be purchased at the venue; call (201) 357-2221 for box office hours.
Black Box Performing Arts Center is located at 200 Walraven Drive, just off Palisade Ave., Teaneck, NJ 07666 (GPS: 290 Walraven Drive). Past productions this season include Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews, Willy Russell's Blood Brothers A Musical, Evil Dead The Musical, and Edward Albee's The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? Following Cloud 9, the New York City area's most eclectic theatre offerings continue at BBPAC with Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man, a soon-to-be-announced brand new original musical, and Eric Bogosian's Suburbia. www.blackboxpac.com
Advisory: Due to graphic language and content, viewer discretion is advised for Cloud 9.
Photo credits: Glenn Lesnik/Glenn L Photography
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