“If any Piccolo play deserves a packed house, it's this one . . . highly recommended for dreamers, romantics, and anyone who wants to escape time’s bonds for an hour or so”
—Nick Smith, Charleston City Paper
“Cloud Tectonics is PURE's best ever.”
—Carol Furtwangler, Post & Courier (2007)
“When I first saw Cloud Tectonics in March of 2007, and after over a half century involvement with all things theatrical, I said that it was the best production I had ever seen. I still think so.”
—Carol Furtwangler, Post & Courier (2008) READ REVIEW
CLOUD TECTONICS
by Jose Rivera
directed by May Adrales
2008 Piccolo Spoleto
with Sharon Graci,
Rodney Lee Rogers,
and
David Mandel
BUY TICKETS DURING PICCOLO SPOLETO 2008
All tickets $25
June 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 at 7:30 pm
at the Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting Street
Tickets available at the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, or 30 minutes before the show, subject to availability, or via Ticketmaster (surcharge)
READ THE CHARLESTON CITY PAPER 2008 BUZZ-O-METER PREVIEW
FOR THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE, SEE CLOUD TECTONICS by Carol Furtwangler, Post & Courier (2008) review
When I first saw "Cloud Tectonics" in March of 2007, and after over a half century involvement with all things theatrical, I said that it was the best production I had ever seen.
I still think so.
Now performing on the second floor of Circular Congregational Church's Lance Hall, PURE Theatre has slowly but steadily built a loyal audience, eminently well-deserved. We have followed them, eagerly from East Bay Street's Cigar Factory to fellowship halls to North Chuck's Noisette, never ceasing to believe excellence will triumph.
Tuesday night, PURE co-founders Sharon Graci and Rodney Lee Rogers reprised their roles as Celestina del Sol and Anibal de la Luna. That Graci and Rogers are married to each other adds an indefinable but identifiable dimension to this drama by Jose Rivera, already existing in at least four dimensions. Maybe five, or as infinite a number as you like.
The story line seems fantastic, but under the direction of May Adrales, the absolute authenticity these actors bring to their roles makes the whole experience seem realer than real.
Graci has so captured the mystery, the ethereality in her graceful, ballet-like movement, in her Spanish-flavored accent, in her dream-like nuance of voice and look, that she succeeds in convincing us that she is a living miracle.
Anibal is a New Yorker living in Los Angeles (of course, the City of Angels) who meets Celestina casually, as randomly as a collision of stars.
Into this place not listed in the world's almanacs comes Anibal's little brother, Nelson. David Mandel brings a powerful dose of worldliness to the piece as well as to the character, as both an achingly needy young man and an equally needy returning war hero.
With rooms chalked in and labeled on the floor in this spare space, lit effectively, with sublime guitar accompaniment by Mike Moran almost a character in itself, the suspension of disbelief reigns.
You have four more opportunities to experience the time of your life.
IF ANY PICCOLO PLAY DESERVES A PACKED HOUSE,
IT’S THIS ONE
by Nick Smith, Charleston City Paper (2007)
Timeless / PURE creates a world that’s a magnet for romantics
Cloud Tectonics is the perfect coda to PURE Theatre’s fourth season, one where the focus has been on acting above all else. Instead of trying to run the show, light it, direct it, star in it, and make the coffee, company founders Rodney Rogers and Sharon Graci vowed to d
evelop their ensemble and share the production load in a more even manner so they could get on with the business of acting. For this play they’re working with New York-based director May Adrales, who pushes the actors in fascinating new ways.
The result is an enthralling, balanced mix of traditional PURE elements (minimal sets, a small cast, lyrical dialogue) and a sense that the thespians are exploring new territory. Graci has to hit a wide range of emotions as Celestina del Sol, a mighty strange Latina who looks like she’s in her mid-20s but professes to be 56. She’s hitching in a rainstick-simulated deluge when she meets the kindly Anibal de la Luna (Rogers on top form), a Puerto Rican luggage loader at LAX. He takes her home and she weirds him out with talk of her two-year-long pregnancy; she’s just the kind of girl who loses track of time easily.
Just as Anibal starts to get used to Celestina, his brother Nelson turns up. Nelson is a soldier on his way to Death Valley to report to a superior. As soon as he hears about Celestina, he starts to become infatuated with her. Rogers’ subtle responses to his brother’s intrusion contrast with Graci’s big, wide-eyed pregnant character. Graci doesn’t feel the need for Celestina to be likeable — she can be overwhelming at times — but she’s always sympathetic.
As the soldier, Matt Bivins rapidly convinces us that Nelson is Anibal’s brother. His Puerto Rican accent takes a while to solidify and he trips over a couple of his lines, but he sells the character’s remarkably sudden obsession with Celestina very well.
Throughout Jose Rivera’s play, flights of romantic fancy are juxtaposed with the practicalities of real life: jobs, commitments, paying the bills. When Celestina talks about the indefinable qualities of time (does it have a color? A place of origin? A sentience?) she might as well be speaking of love. Michael Moran plays Spanish guitar softly in a corner; sound effects are banished to the outside world beyond the stage. The effect for the audience is one of isolation from the rat race, inclusion in the action, and a warm fuzzy feeling at the end of the show.
Cloud Tectonics is highly recommended for dreamers, romantics, and anyone who wants to escape time’s bonds for an hour or so.
“CLOUD TECTONICS is PURE Theatre's best ever.”
The Post and Courier It’s a love story, an old boy-meets-girl story, but...it’s also a story of theatrical enchantment, in which the ordinary is suddenly transformed into the miraculous. On a fantastically rainy night in Los Angeles, the city of Angels, a plain Joe named Anibal de la Luna picks up and brings home with him a poor, bedraggled woman hitchhiker who calls herself Celestina del Sol. She is fifty-four years old, she says, and she has been pregnant two years. She is indeed a rare and heavenly creature, a mystic wanderer with no sense of time and an infinite capacity to love.
“PURE Theatre drops theatre magic into everyday life with CLOUD TECTONICS.” —Charleston City Paper
CLOUD TECTONICS Is Pure Theater
by Dan Conover, Spoleto Today (2007)
Cloud Tectonics isn’t a new play for Piccolo. It’s one of PURE’s 2006-07 season hits, remounted for a festival audience. But the timing of seeing it tonight, after a day of mixed emotions from Samurai 7.0, could not have been more instructive.
Samurai 7.0 is a comedy based on clever reimaginings of theatrical devices, and narrative. And yet even as I admired those traits, I realized that my experience of the piece was still very arm’s-length. The play was an amusement, but it didn’t make me laugh from my belly and it didn’t change me.
Compare that to the experience of watching a performance at PURE. Cloud Tectonics is a work of magical realism inscribed by poetry and a romantic sensibility. It is produced with three actors, one guitar player, four pieces of chalk, two chairs, two mops, a coat, a shawl, and a baby doll. Its affect on me was … disorienting, as if I had become as unstuck in time as its mysterious protagonist, Celestina del Sol. Has it really been four whole years since Rodney Rogers and Sharon Graci set up shop at the Cigar Factory? Did I really forget to eat today?
And this is what I know: No amount of cleverness can pull the weight of theater that speaks soulfully. One piece you might admire. But you love the other, and it trails you home…
Sharon Graci and Rodney Lee Rogers
Interviewed by Janet Edens from Spoleto Today (2007)
City Paper Spoleto Buzz-O-Meter (2007)
Cloud Tectonics
WHAT IS IT? A down-to-earth man falls for a heavenly woman, with cosmic results. WHY SEE IT? With stripped-down sets and minimal props, most of PURE’s plays require the audience to suspend disbelief. With its hints of magical realism, this show demands more imagination than most. It’s already enjoyed a rave-review run as part of this year’s regular season, so we’ll be treated to a tried and tested version of José Rivera’s romantic fable. WHO SHOULD GO? Fans of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. If you enjoy a little dream with your drama or missed this the first time around, here’s your chance to catch a powerful piece of theatre. Buzz: Cloud Tectonics seems to be a good fit for PURE, the local theatre company that delivers realistic acting in an intimate setting but alludes to universal themes. See preview on pg. 94. (Nick Smith)
ORIGINALLY STAGED
March 9–23, 2007
CAST
Sharon Graci,
Rodney Lee Rogers, and
Matt Bivins
It’s a love story, an old boy-meets-girl story, but...it’s also a story of theatrical enchantment, in which the ordinary is suddenly transformed into the miraculous. On a fantastically rainy night in Los Angeles, the city of Angels, a plain Joe named Anibal de la Luna picks up and brings home with him a poor, bedraggled woman hitchhiker who calls herself Celestina del Sol. She is fifty-four years old, she says, and she has been pregnant two years. She is indeed a rare and heavenly creature, a mystic wanderer with no sense of time and an infinite capacity to love.
CLOUD TECTONICS IS PURE'S BEST EVER
by Carol Furtwangler,
Post & Courier
Sharon Graci and Rodney Lee Rogers could stand around on stage reading the phone book, and their audiences would be mesmerized. Actually, they could sit still and stare at it- and still manage to hold in their hands the hearts and minds of everybody in the room.
Co-founders of PURE Theatre, the couple starred Friday night in their company's best production to date, Jose Rivera's "Cloud Tectonics." For this four-year-old professional company, ever seeking new challenges, that is saying a great deal. Graci, as Celestina del Sol, is imbued with magic. Her Latino accent is flawless. Rogers totally convinces as an ex-New Yorker living in Los Angeles who befriends her one stormy night. Also featured is Matthew Bivins, even at his young age a veteran actor in his own right and an ideal representative of the real world.
The 90 minute-one-act is eminently moving, magical in every sense, deeply sensual, and could not have received a better realization that this one, directed with stunning sensitivity by May Adrales. All this, plus a healthy share of comedy. All this, with a few chalk lines drawn by the players delineating rooms on a bare stage, effective mime, two chairs, and a haunting flamenco guitar played live. It is in its apparent simplicity and mystery inspired by Date's "The Divine Comedy."
I challenge you to see this beautiful, endlessly intriguing, poetic production. As a hardened theater critic, I am laughing as I write, trembling, crying, and determined to go straight home and reread the greatest poet that ever lived - until Rivera.
FANTASTIC FANTASY
PURE Theatre drops theatre magic into everyday life with Cloud Tectonics
by Jennifer Corley,
Charleston City Paper
Anibal de la Luna (Rodney Rogers) is a lonely transplant from New York who works as a baggage handler at LAX. Driving home one night, he stops to pick up a hitchhiker who's drenched from the night's torrential rain during Los Angeles' "storm of the century." The hitcher is a beautiful young woman who claims to be 54 years old and to have been pregnant for two years.
Before she makes these admissions, Celestina del Sol (Sharon Graci) drops other hints that she's not exactly normal. Anibal becomes enchanted with her as quickly as he is intrigued by her story, which is, frankly, hard for him to believe. Neither her chronology, nor her recollection of her parents, or how she got to L.A., or her account of her baby's father make any sense.
These celestial bodies are, it seems, destined to meet -- to collide and alter the very laws of the universe.
In PURE Theatre's glowing production of Jose Rivera's Cloud Tectonics, May Adrales' direction creatively emphasizes this thought, that of separate bodies -- each being a speck in the universe, attracting, reacting, altering properties, and then dividing again. She's balanced the warmest of human emotions with an abstract, wondrous theatricalism, the result is magical.
Shortly after their wet arrival at Anibal's house, his brother Nelson (Matt Bivins) appears, on leave from the military and immediately drawn to Celestina. Nelson's promise to return for Celestina in two years throws things more out of whack than Celestina does, disrupting the bonding of two beings and a new way of time.
Large-scale incidents, such as war and natural disasters, all play a large role in the play. Anibal's first lengthy monologue speaks of the destructiveness of the City of Angels, how it kills its inhabitants in the "mass destruction" of natural disasters. The apocalyptic undertones throughout the play -- through topics like those along with death, absent loved ones, and even soulless corporations -- leave one understanding both Anibal's desire to connect with Celestina and how he and his brother could both easily fall for someone who is so disconnected from the way the world really works, from its constraints, from the mortal coil that binds us all.
With its lyrical, almost poetic passages, meandering monologues, and fantasy-driven narrative, Rivera's play evokes the literary works of his mentor Gabriel García Márquez. The strangeness of the situation is emphasized by the physical space PURE's production inhabits. There are only two set pieces here (a pair of chairs), and the set is literally drawn on the floor by the actors before the audience's eyes, conventions which effectively place the play in an imaginary world, a dreamlike setting, keeping with the themes of absence, isolation, and loneliness. PURE's production subtracts some of the realism from the play's "magical realism," yet the move serves it well.
A lone complaint -- and it's not minor, unfortunately -- is that surely it's important that all three of Rivera's characters are Latino. Not one of PURE's cast is even passably so. Sharon Graci's accent is charming, and she carries it through quite convincingly. But neither Rogers nor Bivins convincingly portray Puerto Rican New Yorkers. You wouldn't know either is Puerto Rican if it weren't for Anibal's line "I'm Puerto Rican." Yet Latino culture (especially the emphasis on a particular kind of mythology) undoubtedly plays a part in Rivera's play, and to deny it, even unintentionally, seems to rob the play of one of its most significant levels. Their performances, however, are still moving.
Love "alters the physics around you in some way," Anibal says. Cloud Tectonics is partly an exploration of what love does to a person and the way it can change, even stop, time and the world itself. PURE's production comes very close to achieving the same thing.
Charleston City Paper City Pick
March 7, 2007
Craving another love-stops-time love story? Cloud Tectonics is your cookie, and it's a little nutty. Written by Jose Rivera and directed by May Adrales (fresh out of Yale University, this is her postgraduate professional theater debut), Cloud Tectonics revolves around a hitchhiking 54-year-old woman in Los Angeles who has been pregnant for two years. It's raining something terrible, and normal guy Anibal de la Luna picks her up and takes her to his home. Luna finds "Celestina del Sol" is a clock-stopping, mystic wanderer with a heart the size of China and he gets carried away in a night that mentally spans two years. Luna is snapped back into "reality" when his brother stops the love affair and his lady-love flees. He finds her 40 years later. Leave your watch at home and head to PURE Theatre to find how this liaison ends.
Critical Acclaim for PURE Theatre
“Buy tickets early; PURE’s shows enjoyed mostly sold-out runs packed with audience members excited to see what unique new direction the theatre’s taken this time.” “Smart, stimulating theatre” “This is what acting can be . . . a mind-bending, heart-bursting, beautiful production handled gracefully by PURE Theatre. It will leave you recognizing the power of theatre” —Charleston City Paper
“Seasoned actors, displaying the best in ensemble acting” “productions that are consummately professional in every aspect of live theater” “stunningly funny, moving and profound” “This is material that challenges audiences as well as actors and directors.”—Post & Courier
“Producing contemporary theatre at its best.” “Regularly filling their black box theatre with appreciative audiences.” —Charleston Magazine