Runs through October 1st. . .
By Melissa Griegel . . .
The second annual Phoenix Festival in Nyack, New York, kicked off on Thursday, September 28th with a production of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. The festival runs through October 21st with live music, theater, dance, family entertainment, and one-of-a-kind performances on nine unique stages around Nyack. The festival is led by Artistic Director Elise Stone and Executive Director Craig Smith of the acclaimed Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, founded in New York City in 2003.
Crime and Punishment runs through October 1st at the Nyack Center on East Broadway. Presented in the round, this adaption is a distilled version using minimal props and employing just three actors for all of the roles in Dostoyevsky’s 1867 masterpiece. This version, adapted by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus and directed by Karen Case Cook, runs 90 minutes without intermission. The adaption made for three actors was commissioned by Writers’ Theatre in Clencoe, Illinois and had its world premiere on May 13th, 2003.
Josh Tyson leads the cast as the protagonist Rodion Raskolinkov and is on stage for the entire play. John Lenartz plays the inspector Porfiry Petrovich, as well as all of the other male roles. Elise Stone takes on Sonia and all of the female parts. The stripped-down set consists of three sleek bench seats. Raskolinkov, a former student in Saint Petersberg, ponders whether or not it’s okay for “extraordinary” people to commit murder if others stand in their way, or they think the person’s death will benefit humanity. It is revealed that he initially examined these thoughts through his academic writing, and then put it into action by murdering Alyona Ivanova, a pawnbroker, and her sister Lizaveta. He believes Alyona to be unscrupulous and thinks that the world would be better off without her, and that her money would be best spent on others. Her innocent sister was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As Inspector Petrovich, Lenartz grills Raskolinkov utilizing a variety of investigative techniques. Due to the nature of the staging, Lenartz is able to circle the subject of his attention, even roaming through the audience as he paces and tries to get Raskolinkov to confess. Raskolinkov initially seems to have no remorse for his crimes and does not seem to regard Petrovich as his intellectual equal. Petrovich is undeterred by this and utilizes a variety of psychological approaches on Raskolinkov. It is interesting that even though the play was written in the 1860s Russia, many of these police investigation techniques are used today in the United States. Raskolinkov has no qualms about wearing his subject down or lying to him. There is even a false confession to the crime by a stranger.
The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks as Raskolinkov contemplates what he has done and whether he should run away or confess. Tyson does a good job of portraying his character’s moral dilemma as he conjures up scenes from his past, and his current devotion his friend’s daughter Sonia who has been forced into prostitution to help support her family. Stone changes outfits and mannerisms to portray Sonia, as well as the pawnbroker, her sister, and Raskolinkov’s mother. Despite being a prostitute, she is the moral center of the play repeatedly asking Raskolinkov if he believes in the story of Lazarus, if he believes in God, and if she could read to him from the bible.
In the end, Raskolinkov is convinced to see what he has truly done and to atone for his sins. “I wanted to be a Napoleon”, he admits, but realizes that he is, instead, “an insect just like everyone else” and is vain, envious, malicious, base, and vindictive, with a tendency toward insanity. “I murdered myself, didn’t I?” he asks as he finally confesses his crimes. This 90-minute version takes out extraneous characters from the 576-page novel, boiling the story down to its core: the alienation and superiority of Raskolinkov, his crime and confession, and his punishment—being exiled to Siberia.
The production team includes Craig Smith, Stage Manager, Buffy Cardoza, Production Manager and Props Designer, Debbi Hobson, Costume Designer, Ellen Mandel, Sound Designer, Bill Schmidt, Light Designer, and Safe and Sound, LLC, for sound engineering. The Phoenix Theatre Ensemble has partnered with Children’s Shakespeare Company and Emotions Physical Theatre for the performances, and with many downtown business for sponsorship and prizes.
For more information about all of the upcoming festival shows, and to purchase tickets, go to www.liveartsinnyack.com or www.nyackartsfestival.com. Upcoming shows include Remembering Good Harbor Beach, Scandalton, Pan and the Lost Boys, The Wind in the Willows, Honduras, Drinks with Dead Poets, Now I am Alone starring Geoffrey Owens, Reflections from the Shallow End of the Dating Pool, Children’s Shakespeare Theatre, and the Arts Rock concert. There is also a free walking tour of Nyack you can download from the site called Digital Dreaming: AR Adventures. Nyack has a rich history that you will learn on the tour. One highlight of Nyack is the Hopper Home Museum, the original home and museum of painter Edward Hopper.
Photos by Brian Jenkins – Featured Photo: Elise Stone/Josh Tyson
