FringeNYC Previews

Galatea

Produced by Dreamhouse Ensemble

Author: Frank Tangredi

Galatea  weaves together retired fireman Al Hagen  and his wife, Kate  with a neurotic, obsessive sculptress Merle. Merle is searching for inspiration and a model when she spies Kate at the grocery store and instantly seizes on this woman who seems already to be carved from stone, "dead inside". This is a rich and complex study of stereotyping, guilt and grudges. Immediately sure that loutish Al's to blame for Kate's sullen misery, Merle and her  boyfriend Adam  attempt to enrich the elderly woman's world with art books and museums, and blame her husband for her apathy. But this isn't a simple case of patriarchal oppression; like most marriages, there's scars on both spouses — many of them self-inflicted. And as Al ingratiates himself to these spiritual do-gooders, these old wounds are doused with fresh vinegar.

Set in one of the boroughs of present-day New York, the characters are rich with emotion and turn out to be much different from how they appear. Much as in life, our first impressions are often wrong, and this is certainly true of this play. This is a  play where you get lost in the characters and the outcome. It is an 1hr 45 min. escape form reality. Truly compelling

Ronald Quigley, actor