If the bid for the Republican nomination has got you down, if spring time in February makes you wonder about global warming, if robo-calls during dinner time exasperate you, you might want to head to InterAct Theatre's lively production of Microcrisis, a new satire written by Michael Lew and directed by Seth Rozin. The play takes you from a Monaco casino to a Washington D.C racquetball court in a fast-paced 80 minute romp that follows characters through a corrupt microcredit investment scheme not unfamiliar to most Americans.
Microcrisis imagines a global lending scheme run amok when a hard-partying financial entrepreneur bites off more than he can chew. Playwright Lew says,
When the financial first hit, I was shocked to see the global economy evaporating, and I wanted to look at the root causes of a quickly-evolving , complex manmade disaster. While global finance might not seem like rife ground for comedy, the more I researched, the more the bankers' behavior and government complicity struck me as being absurd.
Rozin's direction is superb as is the acting and the sets, designed by Caitlin Lainoff. As the corrupt investment banker, Bennett, played by Kevin Bergen, is a character you love to hate. The actor Frank X plays Acquah, a man in Ghana running a tiny mobile-phone leasing business - as well as Frankfurt, Bennett's corrupt insider boss, who now has a cushy Washington job.
Rozin says,
I knew when I first read Microcrisis that I wanted to produce and direct it. The play was so funny, so smart, so theatrical and so incredibly timely. We had no idea, however, that several months later the play would be so much timelier in the midst of Occupy Wall Street movement. Current events have put Microcrisis in a whole new light.
The play premiered in New York City at the Ma-Yi Theater in Fall 2012.
Following the second and third Tuesday and Wednesday performances of every production, patrons are invited to stay for Coffee Conversations, informal discussion with company artists. During Microcrisis, Coffee Conversations are scheduled for Tuesday, February 7 and Wednesday, February 8. A thought provoking play like Microcrisis would seem to welcome a some smart post-performance coffee talk.
Individual Tickets for Microcrisis are on sale now. Subscriptions and tickets may be purchased by calling InterAct's box office at 215-568-8079 or by dropping by the theatre at The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia or by visiting InterAct's website.
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