by Mike Hoban
Still, now – Written by Katie Bender; Directed by Amy Meyer; Scenic Designer, Rebecca Lehrhoff; Costume Designer, Sophia Giordano; Lighting Designer, Sophia Giordano; Sound Designer, Amy Meyer. Presented by Heart & Dagger Productions at Martin Hall at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston through May 13
Long before spiritual posers like Oprah and Anthony Robbins began extolling the virtues of “failure” to the masses, there was 19th-century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma, who once imparted, “There is no failure. It’s only unfinished success.” So what we often view as failure in the traditional sense can actually be valuable lessons learned that we can pull out of our consciousness when we are truly ready to apply them. That would appear to be the one of central themes of playwright Katie Bender’s moving and insightful new play, Still, now, currently being given its world premiere for an all-too-short run (it closes this weekend) at Martin Hall at the Boston Center for the Arts.
Annie is a working dancer on Broadway, who watched in horror as the Twin Towers fell on September 11th, and the traumatic experience has left her unable to dance. Desperate, she impulsively jets off to Japan to seek out the help of Butoh Master Ashikawa Junko, whom she had seen dance a few years before, and whose performance so moved her that she was “unable to speak for a week”. (The program describes Butoh as a “way of being and becoming. In Butoh, one does not move the body. The body feels from its inner depths and is moved.”)
When Annie asks the teacher to take her on as a student to learn the ways of Butoh, it is clear that she is seeking a Western-style fix, and does not understand the transformation of thought and being that will be required of her. Ashikawa abruptly dismisses her as being too serious, but when she comes back the next day unfazed and eager to please (she tells the master a joke), she is accepted. She begins the process of unlearning and learning, starting with the very basics – like learning to walk all over again. When at one point Annie asks Ashikawa what to do, she responds, “I cannot give you the steps. There are no proper steps. There is no “way” to do it.”
Ashikawa continues to work with her new student, but after a short time, abruptly tells her that she must go, despite Annie’s protestations. When she returns home, however, her life begins to flourish – she returns to Broadway and touring companies, opens a successful dance studio, and meets the man of her dreams – but then she is diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. And that is where the story begins – quite literally.
When the play opens, it is 2010, and Annie is waiting in a clinic with nagging flu-like symptoms, which are soon diagnosed as the deadly disease. There is no linear timeline, as action takes place in 2001 Japan, five years later when she meets her partner Ben, and in the hospital where we watch her go through her attempts at recovery – both physically and emotionally – and jumps back and forth between time periods. The simple but cleverly staged set changes make it easy to discern the time and setting, and are carried out with dance-like movement by the cast with varying degrees of grace – which fits in well with the spirit of how Butoh was described both in the program and in my brief research.
This 90-minute piece is well-structured despite the time jumps, and Bender seems to have a real understanding of the importance of genuine humility to a spiritual practice, and she expresses that well in her writing. The character of Ashikawa is fully human – smoking cigarettes, telling lame jokes, and becoming frustrated as she walks the path – rather than some manufactured ethereal being from a Karate Kid sequel. Just because she is a Butoh Master doesn’t mean she isn’t still learning herself, and Roxanne Y. Morse fully inhabits the character and conveys her imperfections wonderfully.
The supporting cast is fairly strong as well (and too large to properly credit individually), but it is the compelling performance of Kiki Samko in the lead role that makes this challenging work come together. Samko has developed into one of Boston’s most outrageous comic actors, and that go-for-broke fecklessness she displays in roles with the Gold Dust Orphans, imaginary beasts and in her IRNE-nominated role as Sweeney Todd (with Heart & Dagger) serves her well in this complex role. She is especially good in her scenes with partner Ben (Colin McIntire), from their joyful early dating experiences to the dramatic meltdowns as she begins to succumb to the ravages of her disease.
Still, now packs a lot into 90 minutes – most of it genuinely compelling – and is well worth a look. See it before it closes. For more information and tickets, go to: https://www.facebook.com/heartdaggerproductions/
