Play’s the real deal
Art mimics Bx. life & politics in ‘Storefront’
THE newest play by Bronx-bred writer John Patrick Shanley stars an ambitious borough president, a Pentecostal pastor and a $300 million real estate deal that echoes recent Boogie Down history.
With a plot ripped from Daily News headlines, “Storefront Church” probes moral questions faced by Donaldo Calderon, a Bronx borough president torn between a blockbuster shopping mall project and the values he inherits from his father, a pastor.
Calderon wants the mall to benefit the Bronx, not just the developer behind the project. But to save a storefront church and the home of a family friend, he needs help from the developer, a banker with his eye on the bottom line.
The story riffs on the real-life Bronx dramas that surrounded the approval of the Gateway Center mall by then-Borough President Adolfo Carrión in 2006 and the defeat of the planned Kingsbridge Armory mall by current Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. in 2009, due to wage concerns.
Giancarlo Esposito, who plays Calderon, researched Carrión to prepare for the part and said he hopes the play encourages audience members to advo- cate for higher wages in the bigbox stores where countless Bronxites work.
“Politicians can speak to that need, but sometimes playwrights and actors can do it in a more graceful way,” Esposito said.
Shanley, 61, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for “Doubt,” a parable play about a Catholic parish.
“Doubt” was set in the Bronx of the 1960s, but “Storefront” is grounded in modern times, as Calderon navigates a world defined by foreclosure and unemployment. It debuted May 16 at Atlantic Theater Company and will run there through Sunday.
Esposito, 52, said he was drawn to the play because he grew up in the north Bronx and his mother later opened her own storefront church.
“I used to play soccer in Van Cortlandt Park, and we got our cars fixed on Gun Hill Road,” he said. “I talked with John about the Bronx that he knew . . . and about how the Bronx is still very poor.”
In “Storefront,” Calderon ponders whether or not to play ball with the developer and a probusiness mayor. The fictional pol wants to create jobs, but political pitfalls abound as he attempts to negotiate for living wages and community benefits.
Meanwhile, “living wage” legislation born from the Kingsbridge battle could become law Thursday, with the City Council poised to override a mayoral veto.
Carrión, who landed a job with the Obama administration, has yet to see the play but is a Shanley fan, he said
“There are a lot of interesting storylines in urban America,” he said. “I know that [Shanley] loves the Bronx and wants people to see the borough differently.”