By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
New York actor Amir Darvish plays Amir Kapoor in "Disgraced" online this weekend.
An exceptional cast and script brought together by Tucson director and actor Mark Klugheit is coming up soon in a virtual online production. The multi-cultural and 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar will screen twice in live performances over the coming weekend.
"I wanted to cast the best Tucson actors available. But a couple of the roles are very specific, and I also wanted the best actors I could get,” said Klugheit in a zoom interview. “Jory is African-American and Amir is of Middle Eastern descent.”
After contacting Tucsonans he knew that had New York theater connections, and nationally advertising his virtual auditions, Klugheit cast two actors based in New York, Amir Darvish and Ray Elizabeth, also Jelayna Rose from Los Angeles to play Jory and from Tucson, Steve McKee and Cole Potwardowski (who, oddly enough, recently moved to New York).
All the rehearsals were done remotely. No one came to Tucson.
"I had 20 who auditioned from other cities, seven were from here,” said Klugheit, who is directing “Disgraced” while co-producing in collaboration with Arizona Rose Theatre.
"Amir, who plays the role of Amir Kapoor, was in an earlier New York production of 'Disgraced'. He and Ray both live on the city's west side and have amazing chemistry together,” said Klugheit.
In the play, Amir Kapoor is a very upscale New York lawyer who works on Wall Street enjoying a monied lifestyle and rejecting the Muslim religion in which he was raised.
Amir is married to Emily (Ray Elizabeth) an equally successful American artist who finds her creative inspiration in the iconic imagery of Middle Eastern cultures.
"In the very beginning I just knew I wanted to do a serious play with a multi-cultural message,” Klugheit explained. "Then I read the script of this play.
"The issues in 'Disgraced' are too complex to be expressed in a simple sentence, but I would say the play is about what it means to be a Muslim man living in America after 9/11,” the director said.
As for the production values of this online effort, Klugheit believes working with Arizona Rose Theatre makes it possible to have a more advanced online experience than the usual zoom technology.
"The play runs about 85 minutes with no intermission and takes place in one apartment, but not all in one day. The number of windows on the screen will vary but have a similar background, all the actors are fully costumed, with some props that get passed between the windows.
"I only want to do live theater, so we aren't taping it to stream later. 'Disgraced' will be shown twice, each is a live performance,” Klugheit continued.
Performances are at 5 p.m. ( 8 p.m. EDT) Saturday, Oct. 24, and again at 2 p.m. (5 p.m. EDT) Sunday, Oct. 25. Tickets are free but an online reservation is necessary. Donations can be made directly to Arizona Rose Theatre. Get everything set up by visiting arizonarosetheatre.com
No comments:
Post a Comment