14 LIFESTYLES
csceagle.com | The Eagle | APRIL 6, 2017
Photo by Melanie Nelson
Grandma Kurnitz, played by Taylor Thies, freshman of Rapid City, South Dakota, pulls her grandson Artie, played by Brei Royle, freshman of Litchfield, by the hair, during a dress rehearsal of “Lost in Yonkers” Tuesday in the Black Box Theatre.
‘Yonkers’ deserves praise Zane Hesting Reporter “I’m like steel mama, isn’t that how we’re supposed to be?” Mackenzi Loyd, freshman of Big Piney, Wyoming, delivers a pathos that slips the audience into gentle catharsis. The Black Box Theatre inside Memorial Hall, bleeds a tear. “Lost in Yonkers,” by noteworthy playwright Neil Simon, details a Jewish American family residing in Yonkers, New York. The family is composed of seven members: Jay and Artie (teenage sons), Eddie (father), Bella (intellectually disabled aunt), Grandma Kurnitz (stern, traditional grandma), Louie (“wise guy” uncle), and Gert (nervous, accommodating aunt). Eddie acquires debt and leaves the Bronx as a scrap iron salesmen, and leaves his two beloved sons behind. The sons are thrown into the world of their German immigrant grandmother, Uncle Louie, and aunts, Bella and Gert. Here, in their grandmother’s Yonkers apartment, Jay and Artie must adjust to the travails of life and stick to their father’s parting words, “Never take for yourself, or you’ll always be obligated,” spoken with conviction by student, Samuel Thomas Martin, junior
of Hot Springs, South Dakota. Jay, played by Wacey Gallegos, senior of Ainsworth, and Artie, played by Brei Royle, freshman of Litchfield, take on the heavy task of setting the dynamic of a fractured family; Bronx accents included. Jay delivers a tone of fear in the beginning which slowly shifts to one of pity for his family by the end. His brother, Artie, portrays the perfect picture of naïve youth, and he sticks to the accommodating vernacular with deft (supplying enough laughter to fill a NYC borough). Complications of the play rise and fall around the notable chemistry of Gallegos and Royle. Alongside the brothers runs the persuasions of their Uncle Louie, played by Nathan Wojciechowski, junior of Gering. Louie’s attempts to draw the brothers into crime fail, and ultimately, Louie faces his faults as Wojciechowski makes superb use of “stage space” while making written dialogue feel like improvisation. A story thread through the brother’s lives is the ideal vision of Aunt Bella, played by Loyd. Bella, carries an indelible happiness, suited to the character’s disability, and uses this to hold the fractured family together. A mellifluous delivery of passion in Act 2, Scene 2 by Bella lev-
els the family’s petty grievances, and is one of the standout points in the play. BelPhoto by Melanie Nelson la targets her Artie, played by Brei Royle, freshman of Litchfield, lies down in despair after a squabble troubles at the with his father Eddie, played by Samuel Thomas Martin, junior of Hot Springs, South Dakota, confined, harsh during a dress rehearsal of “Lost in Yonkers” Tuesday in the Black Box Theatre. nourishment of her mother, Grandma Kurnitz, played by Taylor characters beautifully in sending these messagThies, freshman of Rapid City, South Dakota. es. Scene and act transitions were seamless, and Thies, as Grandma, delivers a cold German dia- all seven characters fit the picture in my head lect that speaks of a life of pain. Thies’ character before they arrived on stage, and once they arshift is stunning, and her verbal abuses and door rived they were prepared with a meticulousness slams turn into the subtle smiles of a champi- that only comes from great direction. oned mother. Among the conflict of Bella and As the lights come on at the end of the play, Grandma sits the hilarious, nervous method of Bring Crosby’s “Be Careful It’s My Heart” (fitted speech by Aunt Gert, played by Courtney Smith. perfectly to 1942) sifts through the speakers, and Smith faces the daunting task of breathing in I arise feeling. That’s all, just “feeling.” This play while speaking, and it helps the audience see the makes you feel human, and the detail of work tensions of the family manifested in a speech involved with “Lost in Yonkers” is a special gift, disorder. delivered by a spectrum of talented individuals At its heart, this play is a story of survival, at Chadron State College. American author, but in its mind the play is “the language and John Steinbeck, once delivered a quote about communication of family.” Play director, Molly “the courage of unqualified praise,” and that is all Thornton, senior of Riverton, Wyoming, casts I have for this play: praise.