Now in the midst of its 27th season, PTP/NYC and its directors and company pause to mourn and to remember their friend and collaborator Snoo Wilson, who died suddenly on July 3.
The founders of PTP/NYC say, "Snoo's work was always challenging, frequently confounding, but always profoundly human in its surreal and anarchic depictions of the strange paradoxes that summon up and then skewer the mythic beliefs of so many."
Before the seven-year New York history of PTP/NYC, there was the 20 year history of
Potomac Theatre Project in Washington. Before
Potomac Theatre Project there was New York Theatre Studio from 1977-1985. Only one playwright has been a part of all three chapters in the company's 30+ year history. Snoo Wilson plays produced by the company include The Beast (the company's first production in 1977 in the old Manhattan Theatre Club space), Vampire (two productions), The Everest Hotel (a punk musical), Soul of the White Ant (about Eugene Marais), Our Lord Of Lynchville (a twist on Moliere's Tartuffe), Loving Reno (commissioned by the company), and two productions of his acclaimed Lovesong of the Electric Bear (based on the life and times of Alan Turing), including one at Atlantic Stage 2 in 2010.
One of Snoo's chief enthusiasts was the late
Mel Gussow, theatre critic for The NY Times, who reviewed many of the company's productions. Said Gussow about Soul of the White Ant, "In his diabolical comedy about the evils of apartheid,
Mr. Wilson operates as both ideologue and iconoclast."
Other critics followed suit. Lovesong of the Electric Bear engendered much enthusiasm, both in its 2010 production in New York and in its earlier incarnation in Washington, DC: The Washington Post called the play "engaging" and said, "Porgy the bear is imbued with deep loyalty and childish whimsy by actress
Tara Giordano...The bear turns out to be a clever device for probing the mind of mathematician, code breaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing."
And Washington City Paper said, "The most awe-inspiring creation to come out of this year's festival is Snoo Wilson's Lovesong of the Electric Bear, in its professional world premier
E. Wilson makes an almost impossible setup work: The main characters in this fantastic, fact-based voyage are visionary British scientist Alan Turing and his sentient teddy bear. The charm, depth, and poetry of his script approach those of
Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. And if Turing's rueful observation that '"someone needs to be more comfortable with existence than me" seems defeatist, his story is one of victory-for Turing and, here, for the playwright and the PTP."
PTP/NYC is considering a number of performance based projects (including his new play, Revelations, which it had received two weeks before his death) to celebrate their long association with Wilson as well as to express the enormous regard in which he is held.
The NY Times obituary can be read
here. More information about Snoo Wilson's productions with the
Potomac Theatre Project can be found at
http://PotomacTheatreProject.org.
Pictured: Peter Schmitz, Alex Draper in PTP/NYC's production of Snoo Wilson's Lovesong Of The Electric Bear in 2010.
