Submitted by ATOI.
The Actors Theater of Orcas Island opened its six-show run of Eric Coble’s “The Velocity of Autumn,” on Oct. 25 at the Orcas Grange.
Described by ATOI as “wickedly funny and wonderfully touching,” “Autumn” reveals “the fragility and ferocity of life.” Remaining performances are Nov. 1, 2 and 3. Tickets are available at Darvill’s Bookstore, on Brown Paper Tickets and at the door.
Prolific playwright Eric Coble blends grief with whimsy, doom with hope and quirky determination with unconditional love as 80-year-old Alexandra (Melinda Milligan) prepares to confront — and perhaps accelerate — her final days.
Coble’s brilliant script – over 100 minutes of dense dialogue with no intermission — invites audiences to revel through a real-time tranche of Alexandra’s crise du jour in which she duct-tapes her door and assembles enough Molotov cocktails to blow up her entire Brooklyn block. In Alexandra’s mind, it’s “that or a nursing home.”
It falls to son Chris (R. Travis King) to climb in through the window and talk her down.
Milligan, an ATOI veteran whose resume is laced with dramatic, comedic and musical roles, was drawn to play the feisty Alexandra because of her “sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking thoughts on the experience of aging.”
But aging is only the beginning. Alexandra is a kaleidoscopic blend of emotion, remembrance and volcanic passion. “Dammit,” she wails, “it’s called getting old.”
“What do we really do,” adds Milligan, “when our parents, or loved ones, or we ourselves start to ‘slip’? I think there will be some interesting discussions as audience members drive home.”
And as Alexandra ultimately says in a moment of self-atonement, “Do you have any idea what it’s like to know that the only thing you have left to offer is to stay out of the way?”
Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Coble writes with authority and versatility. His eclectic upbringing — born in Scotland and raised on Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado — helps explain his freewheeling creativity. In a 31-year career, his 85 plays have been produced at premier theatrical venues in 50 U.S. states and on six continents.
“The Velocity of Autumn,” one of five plays Coble wrote in 2011 alone, premiered on Broadway in 2014 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
ATOI’s director for this production, Robert Hall, has recently returned to Orcas from acting and directing in mainland productions.
Hall’s immersive directing style is on display as “Autumn” nears opening night. He pores over the script nightly, arriving at rehearsals with an array of blocking alternatives to test, constantly searching for the perfect nuance.
“Autumn is about a celebration of life, not a calculation of death,” he said. “Alexandra is smiling right back at it. She makes choices we all have to make.”
