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Ponzi Man

nytheatre.com review by Yuval Boim
August 15, 2005

The term “Ponzi scheme” refers to Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant who in 1920 managed to swindle millions of dollars from investors in a plot similar to a Pyramid scheme. In Woman Seeking…’s production of Gary Morgenstein’s Ponzi Man, an upper class Jewish family suffers financial and emotional devastation at the hands of a son who illegally manages the family fortune.All is not well when Hillary and Ike Rosen assemble their three children, Ben, Alicia, and Annie, for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Ike has mysteriously injured his foot; Annie and her husband Steven, whose son refuses to attend the dinner or talk to them on the phone, are famously unhappy in their marriage; Alicia, a failing actor, despite landing a commercial is revealed by her mother to have no trouble procuring porn gigs. Worst of all, Ben may or may not be on the brink of a ten-year prison sentence for fraud in connection with the family real estate business. The play revolves around the exposure of a web of lies and deceit veiling painful family secrets. This is what happens when a family entrusts too much of its love in all the wrong places, the play seems to be saying.While Morgenstein’s frequently potty-mouthed dialogue is at times illuminating (I could have done without the explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the repeated use of the word “fucking” which unfortunately do not transcend the vulgar), and the relationship dynamics he outlines are potentially disturbing and moving—Annie’s realization that her almost incestuous infatuation with her brother Ben leaves her unavailable to her husband; Alicia’s temporary refuge in her brother-in-law’s desperate advances—the production feels a bit like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Given white collar crime’s steady presence in the news Ponzi Man might have a contemporary resonance, yet Morgenstein’s choice of style—kitchen sink tragicomedy meets Kaufman and Hart—alienates us.It is difficult to assess whether the actors’ discomfort on stage is entirely due to the hectic nature of FringeNYC, where a time limit and fast turn-over are enforced. The rushed dialogue makes it difficult to follow the story, and the actors seem burdened in executing Emily Tetzlaff’s staging, at times standing in front of one another or almost disappearing behind a sofa in an attempt to articulate three separate spaces on the stage. Jane Purcell Dashow (as Alicia) and Ken Dashow (as Steven), a husband and wife acting team, stand out as most honest, and Ruth Jaffe (as matriarch Hillary Rosen) delivers an even performance. Despite the production's flaws I managed to stay interested in this family’s struggles to manage its emotional and fiscal resources. Perhaps further clarity in writing and production will fully realize Ponzi Man’s potential.