Review by Ron Fassler . . .
I wasn’t sure what to expect when the location of Ken Urban’s new play Danger and Opportunity took me to a theater called East Village Basement. Located at 321 East 9th Street, audiences must descend a flight of metal stairs into, yes, the basement of an apartment building. In a 500 square foot area decorated as a living room, wooden chairs surround three of its sides. My seat had my name on it.
Soon to have its first anniversary as a new theatre space, this marked my initial visit to East Village Basement. Before the show began and while I was settling in with the thirty or so other audience members, I was reminded of being back in acting class when I first hit New York City in the early 1980s, seated so close to classmates I could reach out and touch them as they worked. But there’s not a whiff of acting class aroma about Danger and Opportunity. This is a play rich in character and plot that is enhanced in innumerable ways by its close setting. Its sensational three-person cast allows for each actor to speak in normal tones and voices (no mics, of course) that easily carry. In the best sense, there’s nothing theatrical about it while it achieves a heightened theatricality at the same time, all of which makes for an arresting evening of pure theatre.
Christian (Ryan Spahn) and Edwin (Juan Castano) are a married gay couple with a dozen years or so of an age spread between them; enough so that their urban language is different, and that they share separate sets of friends. Via Facebook, Christian makes a connection with an old college girlfriend named Margaret (Julia Chan), who he’d been with twenty years prior to his coming out. Arriving for drinks and dinner, Margaret causes sparks to fly and it’s not just between her and Christian, but Edwin as well. A sexual relationship forms between the three that grows into genuine love. To say that complications arise is an understatement with Margaret telling the men late in the play, “You brought me into your lives to fix your marriage.” By turns comic, sexy, and deeply sad, Urban explores themes of relationships in startling and fresh ways. In a complimentary fashion, it calls to mind certain Harold Pinter plays, particularly The Lover, The Homecoming, and Betrayal.
When Jack Serio won Off-Broadway’s Obie Award two months ago for another of his stagings in these types of settings, his citation read: “In intimate rooms for audiences of a few dozen, this director has redefined and reinvigorated the idea of micro theatre, creating immersive spaces that allow for quietly raw performances enveloped in evocatively rigorous designs.” Danger and Opportunity emphasizes all that, well served by Serio’s unobtrusive yet meticulous direction. By not being on a conventional stage, these actors are free to explore the kind of truly connected acting that is rare to see and experience. Serio’s work with the trio is superb, bringing out a truthfulness that allows the story to flow minus flourishes or histrionics. Ryan Spahn, who in this past season alone has showcased his versatility in such shows as Jordans at the Public Theatre and The Antiquities at Playwrights Horizons, is remarkable here. His Christian is a mass of contradictions, and yet he manages to make a faulty character eminently relatable. As his husband Edwin, Juan Castano brings an open vulnerability and even a sense of danger to the proceedings. You’re never quite sure what he’ll do next—again a tribute to the playwriting. And as Margaret, Julia Chan dazzles using her mellifluous voice and supple body language to perfection. There are moments when I couldn’t take my eyes off her. How I wish I had seen her in 2023 under Serio’s direction in his candlelit staging of Uncle Vanya.
The design elements all add to the atmosphere with a particular shout out to the lighting by Stacey Derosier. The costumes, which never change and perfectly capture the characters, are by Avery Reed and Frank J. Oliva’s lived-in furnishings are spot on.
“We change, but as we are,” is a quote from Nietzsche that is spoken in the play, deftly describing a great deal of what we experience with these characters as the action unfurls. Urban uses the German philosopher as a starting off point (Christian is a Nietzsche scholar) and manages to come full circle by his play’s end when he has Christian state, “Failure… that is the greatest teacher, giving us the greatest gift, the chance to change, to tell a new story.” Far from a failure, Danger and Opportunity, is a highlight of this theatrical season. Its limited engagement is sold out, but if you’re so daring and wish to try and find a way to get a ticket, you will experience a play of depth and compassion, compounded by doses of laughter and tears. I guarantee it’s worth a visit to the Basement.
Danger and Opportunity is at the East Basement Theatre, 321 9th Street, NYC through April 20th. For ticket information, please visit: www.dangerandopportunity.com.
Photos by Emilio Madrid.
Headline photo: Ryan Spahn and Juan Castano.