Producer's Notes for The Line
As a producer of Horovitz's Line in The Balagula Theatre I was granted a rare and unique opportunity to watch the birth of not only a new show, but a new director.
Ryan Case, The Balagula Theatre's Artistic Director and a brilliant actor, stars in the director's chair as vibrantly as he has in his best parts --he is natural and most convincing.
Ryan's choice of play for his debut is not accidental. Line is one of the most difficult plays to direct: seemingly simple, it can trap a naive beginner into creating a funny but flat cartoon, slapstick, though witty and entertaining, that leaves the audience with puzzlement of "what was it all about" and "why would anyone choose to..." The key is to approach the play's absurd circumstance from the point of view of its five characters, five people for whom, no matter how absurd it appears to us, their life is real, tragic and unique.
Good actors don't often become good directors - the skill and approach to a script is different and, in some sense, diametrically opposite in these two capacities. But when they do, the result and the process of working with such directors is most rewarding for the cast - the spotlight focuses on the actors' work and interacting. After all, actors are the heart and soul - the very essence of theatre.
Ryan's chosen cast features several generations of Lexington actors - from Ed Desiato with his 47 years of professional theatre experience to Gareth Evans who, though he made his stage debut as an infant, is only twenty, and is really just starting his artistic career. The new director's confidence, depth, skill and care seem to agree with them all.
My only regret is that I will forever remain a sole audience present to watch a show of a show being born...