We visit White Rabbit Red Rabbit at Westside Theatre
Imagine, if you will, stepping out in front of a roomful of people all on your lonesome to perform to them on a given evening. Arguably, a standard part of the job for any actor, you say. Now imagine that this particular actor has never actually seen the script of the play he or she is about to perform. Talk about stage fright... That surely takes a lot of guts.
This scenario, as outlandish as it may seem, is occurring off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre every Monday night thanks to a play by a young Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour. The play goes by the name White Rabbit Red Rabbit and each performer stars for one-night-only.
We took a trip down to the Westside Theatre last night to witness first-hand the most unpredictable evening off-Broadway. TV breakout star Robin Lord Taylor (who plays Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin on "Gotham") was the daring guest actor who graced the stage on Halloween night. Visibly nervous and excited, he joined a line of accomplished actors who came before him, willing enough to let their guards down and flex their cold reading muscles. This line includes such stage and screen favourites as Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, Cynthia Nixon, Martin Short, David Hyde Pierce, Alan Cumming, George Takei, and the list goes on and on.
With the absence of a director, the producers of the show introduce their guest actor and hand him the script for the very first time (along with a vial of poison) and then pat him or her on the back and off we go. What follows is not just the tale of the White Rabbit and the Red Rabbit, but a deeply moving message from the hands of a man, who, at the time of writing, had no passport and was forbidden to leave his country of Iran. The actor functions as a vessel to carry Nassim's words to places he could not physically go himself. The play proves how theatre can connect us around the world despite the tremendous obstacles in our way and the themes he touches upon remind us how universally alike we are, despite our varying cultures and creeds.
White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been translated into 21 languages and has been performed more than 1,000 times worldwide, picking up numerous awards along the way, such as The Edinburgh Festival's Arches Brick Award. This year, thanks to producers Devlin Elliott and Tom Kirdahy, the play has added New York to its ever-growing reach.
There are plenty of moments of comic relief and yes, much of that comes from elements of audience participation, but there are also such profound moments that are able to move the performer to tears. Mr. Taylor was no exception to that rule last night. I don't wish to spoil the content of the play in detail, but I would encourage you to be a part of this unique experience for yourselves, as performances continue on Monday evenings at the Westside Theatre. Theatre making is remarkable. It can break down boundaries and it can connect us to each other, however fleetingly, for a perfect moment.
Confirmed future performances include:
November 7: Mo Rocca
November 14: Alex Brightman
November 21: Nancy Travis
December 5: Micah Stock
December 12: James Roday
Stay tuned to the New York Theatre Guide for additional performer announcements.
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