Death Becomes Them
By HOLLY WALL, 01/20/2010
Resting in Peace. No aspect of death is off limits, and the vignettes broach subjects such as suicide, cancer, zombies, the death penalty, necrophilia and the afterlife in 50 Swats’ commissioned piece, The Grace Project. JEREMY CHARLES
Troupe tackles difficult subject matter with humor, humility
Death is the only certainty life has to offer. And, certainly, everyone has had some sort of experience with death. Those who work at Grace Hospice, providing end-of-life care to dying Tulsans, experience it more often than others.
This is why the hospice's director, Otis Eversole, commissioned a piece of theatre on the topic from the 50 Swats Writers Collective. That piece, titled The Grace Project, premiered last weekend at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
"We deal with life and death issues everyday, and we're always looking at different ways to explore life and death issues," Eversole said.
He was familiar with some of the 50 Swats' past work and expected the group to come up with a few interesting ways of asking and answering the difficult questions that circle death.
The goal of the project, Eversole said, is the benefit of the community, not Grace Hospice. The hospice is interested in helping people in the community deal with their feelings about death, he said, and commissioning this work from 50 Swats is just one way of doing it.
Eversole couldn't have chosen a better company to tackle such a difficult and complicated subject. As is the collective's style, its writers explore themes of life and death through short scenes and monologues. And, as usual, they do so with brutal honesty and thoughtful humility.
No aspect of the topic is off limits, and the vignettes broach subjects such as suicide, cancer, zombies, the death penalty, necrophilia and the afterlife.
Most of the scenes deal with the topic of death from the perspective of the living--the only perspective any of the show's writers can know about for sure. But, beyond that, the show attempts to deal with death from the perspective of the deceased as well. It is an ambitious goal, and the show's writers and actors achieve it with care, empathy, creativity and humor.
At only an hour and 45 minutes, the show moves quickly, and the pieces are arranged well. The show opens with a couple of clowns (John Cruncleton and Owen Froeschle) semi-mocking death and society's fear of discussing it. Then, Cassie Hollis beautifully and hauntingly describes death in Amy Wilson's Eurydice.
In a series of scenes, Joseph Gomez offers lessons on dying, literally and humorously describing the various methods of death employed in cinema and literature. The work ends eerily with a scene by Julie Ann Seals called "Ehekarusel," played by Angela Adams and Heather Sams.
Guitarist Greg Mize and drummer Steve Beard provide the musical interludes and aural effects and even make a couple of cameos in the play.
Aside from the aforementioned, the actors are Amy Carlin Lee, Any Axewell, Starr Hardgrove, Robert McClellan and Grace Weber. John Cruncleton leads the team of writers, which includes Jason Watts, Adams, Gomez, Sara Cruncleton, Tom Waits and W. Blake.
50 Swats' work has always impressed me, but there wasn't one bit of The Grace Project that I didn't enjoy, that didn't stir my emotions or evoke feeling.
The Grace Project continues this weekend, Jan. 22-23, and next, Jan. 29-30, at 8pm at the Nightingale Theater. Tickets are $8.