Next up for barebones: gritty ‘ True West,’ then dance fever
There’s something you don’t see every day, or every year, for that matter: an announcement of two upcoming barebones productions shows, and one is about preteen dancers.
Patrick Jordan’s company hasn’t quite gone all feel- good and sparkly on us. The artistic director will follow up the triumphant glitz and grit of “The Legend of Georgia McBride” with Sam Shepard’s “True West,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1983 about duality in human nature and more in keeping with the barebones’ brand.
In an unusual two- for- one announcement, the Braddock- based company also is giving notice that barebones’ winter production will be “Dance Nation.” Clare Barron’s award- winning play about preteen competitive dancers had its world premiere last year at Playwrights Horizons, drawing raves from both The New York Times and Washington Post.
“True West,” which opens Sept. 6, is artistic director Jordan’s first production “without my mentor and friend Bingo O’Malley to help light the way,” he said of the Pittsburgh acting legend, who died on June 2. “But I’m here and I’m ready — it’s the last creative project we discussed, and it just adds to my fire for this production.”
In “True West,” Austin is writing a script that he has sold to a producer, when his brother, Lee, a petty thief, intrudes with his own script idea. Austin is suddenly faced with leaving behind his bleak, modern love story in favor of Lee’s trashy Western tale. The New York Times’ Ben Brantley, writing in January about the “ripping revival” on Broadway that starred Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano, wrote of the brothers’ relationship, “everyday sibling rivalry has seldom felt this ominous.” The play is considered the third in Shepard’s trilogy of family dramas, including “Curse of the Starving Class” ( 1976) and the Pulitzer- winning “Buried Child” ( 1979).
Jordan directs and plays Lee alongside Gabriel King ( barebones’ “Lobby Hero,” “Small Engine Repair”) as Austin. The cast also includes Heidi Mueller Smith and Randy Kovitz (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Grey Zone”) as Hollywood agent Saul.
“True West” will run Sept .6-29,8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, at the Barebones Black Box, 1211 Braddock Avenue, Braddock. Tickets: $ 35; $ 40 at the door; bare bones productions. com or 1-88871TICKET. “Dance Nation” is scheduled to run Nov. 22- Dec. 15.