David Greenspan

How do you solve a problem like David Greenspan? The answer is: You don’t! You just sit back and watch this agile performer have his way with you, Theater (with a capital “T”) and the English language.

David Greenspan has been a madcap presence in local theater for a number of years, most recently in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s The Royal Family and the last revival of Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band. He has also created works for himself such as She Stoops to Comedy and The Argument. But in The Myopia, an Epic Burlesque of Tragic Proportion he outdoes himself with verbal and philosophical wit, appearing as more than a dozen characters, all the while simply sitting in a comfortable armchair on an otherwise bare stage.

In The Myopia Mr. Greenspan plays the Orator and his Doppelganger who tell the story of a man named Barclay who is writing a play about his father Febus who is in turn writing about the love of his life, a Jewish Rapunzel figure named Koreen, as well as an epic tell-all about the nomination of Warren G. Harding for president during the 1920s. Along the way Carol Channing—yes, the Carol Channing of Hello Dolly! Fame--joins the high-falutin verbal scrimmage to comment on what the Orator is throwing at us at warp speed. Throughout it all Mr. Greenspan sits in his chair and talks about imagined scenery and lighting, changing character with just a tilt or turn of the head or an adjustment of vocal inflection.

Aside from what must have been a monumental memorization chore, what we have here is layer upon layer of intelligent drollness, as if Mr. Greenspan’s words were a giant sonic sculpture that can only be understood when spun and looked at from absolutely every angle.

That The Myopia has been performed by Mr. Greenspan in repertory with Gertrude Stein’s Plays is both apt and synergistic as they obviously share the same philosophy of using words to express more than just their surface meanings. Mr. Greenspan’s wordplay is more three-dimensional than Ms. Stein’s but just as mind-boggling and thought-provoking.

The Foundry Theatre, under the artistic direction of its founder Melanie Joseph, has a proven track record of producing ambitious and avant-garde work and Mr. Greenspan’s sold-out run of both plays just adds luster to the Foundry’s reputation. Perhaps The Myopia and Plays will have a life outside this limited run, especially on college campuses?

THE MYOPIA, AN EPIC BURLESQUE OF TRAGIC PROPORTION
The Foundry Theatre at
The Atlantic Stage 2
330 West 16^th St.
New York, NY
January 6^th – February 7^th, 2010
866-811-4111 or www.thefoundrytheatre.org