Brava! for Women in the Arts Inaugurates New Stage with Production of Kobo Abe’s Friends

Brava! for Women in the Arts celebrates the opening of their 2nd Stage with the Regional Production of Friends, written by Kobo Abe and directed by Brava's Artistic Director, Raelle Myrick-Hodges. Friends is the tale of a young man who lives alone and finds himself "hustled" by a family of eight who arrive unexpectedly at his doorstep. As the Man tries to "maneuver" his way around the family occupying HIS apartment, the discussion of ‘community' and ‘neighborly love' dominates the Man's world. The Family is dedicated to saving the Man from his loneliness by living with him and becoming his friends. As the Family uses their cheerful madness as a deterrent to the Man's need to be rid of them, the play takes an unusual turn as the Family struggles to convince the Man that his desire for privacy is a community aberration.

The play, written in 1964, is an absurdist depiction of society's need to control the individual and convince individuals to comply without complaint. "It is our simplest need, isn't it - to simply be allowed to make individual choices and yet, all of us currently live in a society determined to dictate who we can marry, where we should live and what personal dreams we should pursue?" says director Raelle Myrick-Hodges. "I was lucky to discover this play in my career and somehow its message to beware of friends making choices for you has stuck to my cerebral bones. The extraordinary thing to me about this work is that it isn't simply about that. The absurdity of the situation this Man finds himself in becomes a metaphor for so many contemporary societal issues including marriage, housing, as well as philosophical lifestyle such as the right to be vegetarian or carnivore. This play allows an audience to reflect on their own lives without choosing which part to ‘think about' first. I love this play."

Japanese avant-garde novelist and playwright Kobo Abe is known for his connection to with Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco as they all had a similar, absurd sense of humor. Central themes in Abe's works are loss of identity, alienation, isolation of the individual in a bizarre world, and the difficulty people have in communicating with one another. Born in Tokyo, the playwright was a well known member of a literary group committed to the goal of fusing the techniques of Surrealism with Marxist ideology. Abe's work has been inspired in both his plays and novels by artists such as Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Beckett, Rainer Maria Rilke and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In the West, Abe is best-known for his novels, such as The Woman in the Dunes (1962) and The Face of Another (1964). Abe's experimental works first gained popularity among the younger generation of readers. He received prizes for his three stories, 'Akai mayu' (Red Cocoon 1950), 'Kabe' (1951), and 'S. Karuma-shi no hanzai' (1951).

Raelle Myrick-Hodges is the Artistic Director of Brava! for Women in the Arts and the founder of the award-winning Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia. She has garnered many awards including Barrymore nominations for best outstanding New Play and Best Director. She is a NEA/TCG awardee and has worked with artists such as Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, Suzan-Lori Parks, Branden Dirden, and Geoffrey Arend.

Brava's 2nd Stage will allow for a more intimate setting since the space will only allow for a 65 seat performance. Although the 2nd stage will be turned into a premiere intimate stage for Friends as well as four other BRAVA produced theatrical productions this season, the 2nd Stage will maintain its original use as a dance studio with a sprun floor and will continue to be a place for Brava Theater Academy classes and other workshops. "Creating a new space it hard work," says Facilities Manager Cathie Anderson, "but the entire staff at BRAVA is ready for the challenge. It is wonderful to have the first work be created by BRAVA company members and directed by our Artistic Director. This allows us to learn what needs to change in the space for upcoming directors during the season."

Friends will have one preview the day after Election Day on November 5, 2008, and will open on November 6. The production will run from November 5 - November 21, 2008. For more information, please go to the Brava! for Women in the Arts website:www.brava.org

 

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