10 Things To Do Before I Die

As on many Saturdays, we went to see two plays yesterday, a matinee and an evening performance, with our theater buddies Stu and Ginger. The matinee was "God of Carnage," a satire about manners and marriage, starring Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini, and Marcia Gay Harden. Written in French by award winning playwright Yasmina Reza, who won a Tony for Art, and translated by Christopher Hampton, God of Carnage is up for six awards this year, including best play and best performance by an actor and actress for all four of its cast members.

The project was brought to Broadway from London by Gandolfini who claimed Friday night on Charlie Rose that when he saw it, he thought it wouldn't be a stretch for him to perform. He found otherwise once he recruited Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden, and later Jeff Daniels to join him.

The play is full of surprises, outrageous physical humor, and for ninety minutes one gets to examine two marriages. Although not as insightful as Edward Albee at his best --Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Goat: Who is Sylvia?, God of Carnage is good theater, not spectacular theater, but good theater that is entertaining, full of humor, and performed impeccably, especially by Marcia Gay Harden. The direction by Matthew Warchus prevents the play from feeling like television situation comedy, using silence and missed beats, so that it isn't as easy to watch as the small screen, and good, because live theater should not be replicating small screen, its form or its timing.

Ginger' comment was striking: The audience wanted to love the play, because of its cast and nominations, so it was a bit eager. Which is why we often avoid the hits and scrounge around for less known theater where audience expectations are fewer, and we can scrutinize the play and performances with a fresh eye. Many times I don't read any reviews before seeing a play. That was unavoidable with God of Carnage.

We walked up Broadway to 2econd Stage's Uptown theater on 76th Street where we have often been disappointed, except for a play Animals Out of Paper by Rajiv Joseph, extended through last summer because of the delicacy of the writing and superb performances by Atkarsh Ambudkar, Kellie Overby, and Jeremy Shamos. (His new play Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, just opened in LA.) Mostly we have been disappointed by self-indulgence, especially since the theater is badly in need of a renovation and the seats have lost their plushness, which lends itself to losing patience with a novice playwright. (Stu kept on taking off the armrest from his chair last night as a running gag during intermission.)

Although still in development, and in need of a major edit, 10 Things To Do Before I Die by Zakiyyah Alexander is a wonderful play, and Ms. Alexander is an extraordinary playwright because of her ear for authenticity and her fierce desire to speak the truth. Like most emerging writers she needs an editor.

Let me say it this way: 2econd Stage Uptown presents plays that are still in development, which is what makes the theater sometimes dreadful or like last night, vital, exciting, and yes, still in formation. Ms. Alexander is Yale educated and currently on the faculty of Bard College, which means she knows structurally what she is doing. She is a talent to watch, and we will be looking for the next version of this play.

The opening scene of this play is perfect, absolutely, positively perfect. Natalie Venetia Belcon plays Vida, the older sister, an eight year veteran, teaching theater in a New York City public school. She is an extraordinary presence on stage; she is big, she is beautiful, her voice commands, and all of her scenes work, in part because of her talent. They also work because the playwright has honed her role so well. We like Vida, we admire her, we are surprised by her complexity, her neediness, her sensuality. And her scenes use the difference between television and live theater well: her monologues in front of her class are magnificently performed, timed, nuanced. Natalie Venetia Belcon: she was in Avenue Q and she will be all over Broadway throughout her career. (She doesn't include Law & Order in her credits yet!)

One of her students, Jose, a Dominican kid from a family of screamers, is played by Kyle Beltran, another incredible talent, a skinny, tall, not particularly handsome young man who takes his place on the stage and makes you listen. He will be a star, too. Which is another reason why the role of Nina works so well. The men in her life, including her lover, Andrew, played delicately by Dion Graham, are complex, distinct, human, and by the time they leave the stage, we understand them. There are no characters who are unlikeable anyplace in this play. Ms. Alexander is writing about vulnerable, fragile, confused people; she is writing about us, no matter the color of anyone's skin.

The character of Nina, the younger sister is more troublesome, not because of Tracie Thoms' amazing performance, but because this is where the play needs editing, desperately. Unfortunately Nina is a blocked writer, and I have to admit that there's something too narcissistic about the character of the blocked writer in theater, film, and books.

Her role is just too overwritten, with much of the dialogue repetitive and too ordinary, especially with her live-in boyfriend, Jason, played by Francois Battiste, whom we just saw in The Good Negro at the Public Theater, another play by an up and coming African American woman playwright, Tracey Scott Wilson.

(Or you can read my review.)

Nina's role is just too murky still, which is where the play needs some work. We concurred that the playwright would get rid of the hallucinations scenes, they aren't necessary, and contract the subtext about what it means to become an adult black man in American society, a subtext that is very important and interesting, but it drags too much. Once Nina's role as the younger sister develops, so will Jason's, and together their conflict will be very real and dynamic.

10 Things to Do Before I Die is still in preview. Consider it if you are a true theater goer, otherwise, wait until Ms. Alexander has it perfected. I suspect she will do just that!