FringeNYC 2013: Adam & Steve and the Empty Sea
Adam is openly Mormon. Steve is openly gay. Set against the backdrop of the passage of Prop. 8, these childhood friends grapple with religion, sexuality, politics and adulthood.
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Naomi McDougall Graham · August 10, 2013
Adam & Steve and the Empty Sea is an outstandingly beautiful, smart, funny, profound, and heartbreaking play. Even in the FringeNYC, where you have 183 choices, go see this play. You won’t regret it.
Plan-B Theatre Company brings us this play after a sold-out run in Salt Lake City last winter. The Adam and Steve in question are the only characters in the play and spend the 70 minutes alone on stage with a single wooden bench as the only set piece. With nothing further, they tell a compelling, deeply moving story. I was riveted.
Adam and Steve are high school seniors and lifelong best friends who are peeking over that scary precipice into adulthood and discovering the men they will grow up to be. Steve is coming to terms with realization that he’s gay. Adam, raised as an indifferent Mormon, is realizing that he may actually believe in God…and all that stuff.
The play you expect with that set-up is trite and preachy. The play you get is neither of those things. This one is a brilliantly written, textured exploration of intricate, anything-but-straightforward characters. It’s about the pain of growing up and realizing that the world is more complicated than you thought it was. About realizing that two best boyhood buddies might become men who can’t really be friends.
Matthew Greene’s script is, by turns, laugh-out-loud funny (there are one-liners that will make every writer in the audience turn green with envy) and, ultimately devastating as this friendship that you fall so quickly in love with struggles to endure.
Topher Rasmussen (as Adam) and Logan Tarantino (as Steve) are wonderful; with quiet performances as complex as the writing. They play these characters with such endearing honesty that I rooted for them always, even as I watched each of them be right and each of them be wrong.
Jerry Rapier directs the piece with the simplicity and focus it deserves, allowing us to just ride with the characters on their journey.
I did have some reservations about Greene's resolution of the play, it hit some trite notes that were smartly avoided the rest of the time, but, ultimately, it doesn't matter. This is one of the smartest and most up-to-date portrayals of a modern “coming out” story I’ve seen. Steve’s coming out is, if anything, less of a big deal than Adam’s decision to commit to Mormonism. But the play wins because, while it reveals both subjects with a gentle, thorough touch, it isn’t ultimately “about” either of them. It’s about a deeper truth, one that every audience member will relate to: the confusion, pain, and bittersweet glory of leaving childhood behind and becoming who you will be.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Adam & Steve and the Empty Sea
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
Theater Beats Movies · Topher Rasmussen (Other)
- Is there a particular moment in this show that you really love or look forward to? Without giving away surprises, what happens in that moment and why does it jazz you?
The first moment in the piece that I really look forward to is the moment when Steve comes out to Adam as gay. As teenagers in California, words like 'faggot' and 'homo' were their vernacular, so Adam's world is drastically altered when his best friend comes out. There's a moment later in the play that mirrors this first 'coming out' moment in a really interesting way, so I look forward to that moment too. Keep an eye out. - Does a video trailer help promote your show?
We have a video trailer, yeah. It was made fairly early in our process, so I'm not sure how accurately it represents the product New York audiences will get, but the text is pretty much the same. - What things does live theater allow you to do that you can’t do in movies?
The biggest advantage live theater has over film is spontaneity. A finished film doesn't change. It's exactly the same every time it's played. There are so many ways that a piece of theater can change performance to performance, even if the blocking and lines are exactly the same. There is an unspoken (most of the time) dialogue between the actors and the audience that is vital to a successful production. So in that sense, theater is more personal, more present, and more real. What you're watching is happening now, and it will never happen exactly the same way again. - People who like which of the following recent movies would also probably like your show: BOOK OF PI, LINCOLN, BRIDESMAIDS, MAN OF STEEL?
Probably LIFE OF PI, followed by LINCOLN. Actually, there are moments in BRIDESMAIDS that feel sort-of the same. Maybe not. If you liked MAN OF STEEL... I'm not so sure about that one. - Why should audiences see live theater instead of just watching videos on the internet?
We spend SO MUCH TIME looking at screens. I'm looking at a screen as I type this. Look up. Theater is real. It's alive. The battery doesn't die. Wake from the trance. See live theater.
Many Faces of Theater · Matthew Greene (Writer)
- Why are theater festivals important?
Theatre is a business that's hard to break into, that's no secret. As a result, young people don't often get opportunities to engage with an audience and polish their craft. Festivals like this fill that void. I know not everyone involved is young or at the beginning of a career, but I am. So it's an important one for me. - Which character from a Shakespeare play would like your show the best: King Lear, Puck, Rosalind, or Lady Macbeth -- and why?
Well, I think the moral ambiguity of the play would freak Lear out. Puck, meanwhile, would be irritated that the two boys don't hook up. And I'm pretty sure Lady Macbeth was a homophobe. Rosalind, on the other hand, is thoughtful, intelligent, and compassionate and I think would really appreciate the discussion of love this play promotes. Plus, I might get a date with her. - Can theater bring about societal change? Why or why not?
Anything that gets people thinking and talking can bring about societal change. Theatre for its own sake, though, brings about nothing. It's only when an audience enters the equation that the exciting stuff happens. - Who do you think has the right idea about theater: Brecht, Artaud, Shakespeare, or Aristotle?
Shakespeare. He really understood his audience, knew what they wanted, and how to reach them. Then, within those limitations, he wove beautiful stories that reveal the whole of human nature to us. - People who like which of the following recent Broadway shows would also probably like your show: KINKY BOOTS, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, ONCE, or JERUSALEM?
I think "Once." This play too is about the beautiful impact one human being can have on another's life and the complexity of human relationships.
Celebrating Our Diversity · Logan Tarantino (Actor)
- How important is diversity to you in the theater you see/make?
I think diversity is paramount for growing and learning about the human spirit. Theatre is a venue in which we have the opportunity with the use of empathy to learn things that may be different from us. Theatre provides a unique learning experience to each viewer. Instead of trying to lay down one strict law after another, we're allowed to determine what we learn for ourselves. - How do you feel about gender-blind casting?
I think gender blind casting is perfectly valid as long as it is in sync with what the creators of a show wanted their audiences to understand. Personally I would love the freedom to play ANY role I want, but if it doesn't meet a show's vision I would also very much understand that and not take it personally. - Do you feel you’ve been typecast in your career because of how you look or what groups you identify with?
Yes and no. Technically in school shows I'm given challenges to break out of my stereotype of a handsome, jock type. In the professional world I'm usually cast very close to what I look like for the needs of a description of a character. - Which famous person would you most like to get a fan letter from: Denzel Washington, Maggie Smith, Ang Lee, Suzan-Lori Parks?
Steve Carell - Groucho, Chico, Harpo, or Zeppo?
I don't know-o. I feel like I'm a bad theatre person for not knowing, but I constantly feel like that when it comes to theatre references since I really started my theatre watching in college. I'm much more of a film buff, don't hurt me, but I'm enjoying learning more and more about theatre through the years.
All About My Show · Plan-B Theatre Company (Director)
- Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
...is from the heart of Mormondom - Salt Lake City! And my name is actually Jerry Rapier, not Plan-B Theatre Company :-) - What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
ADAM & STEVE AND THE EMPTY SEA is set against the backdrop of the passage of Prop 8. Childhood friends Adam & Steve - one of which is openly Mormon, the other openly gay - grapple with religion, sexuality, politics and adulthood. In the end, it's really about figuring out how to be an adult. I hope audiences see through this production that the greatest possibility for change is not to the left or the right but in the middle - only there can people really hear each other. - Who are some of the people who helped you create this show, and what were their important contributions to the finished product?
I've been working with Matthew Greene on the script for about two years now. I was planning all along to direct the world premiere in Salt Lake City this past January and had cast and workshopped the play. But life intervened. My husband of 18 years and I found out that our adoption was going through. So I asked my friend Jason Bowcutt (New York theatre folk will know him as the co-founder of the Innovative Theatre Awards) to step in as director. He graciously agreed to take the reigns of a project that had already left the station and did a beautiful job with it. When the email from FringeNYC came, it turned out that Jason was not available so I'm stepping in for him as he stepped in for me. - Tell us about the process you used to achieve your vision of this play in this production.
Matthew has given us a new draft of the script following the Salt Lake City run so it's really a new production, especially given the production constraints of the Fringe itself. I am excited to stage the show with a bench and a gobo and help Topher & Logan dig deeper into the characters of Adam & Steve, respectively, to tell Matthew's story in the most compelling way possible. - Are there any cautions or warnings you’d like to make about the show (e.g., not appropriate for little kids)?
We're particularly excited about being part of FringeHIGH - I would suggest no children under 10.
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