Two plays open at the Raven Performing Arts Center this week, and will run through Oct. 6. The plays take on themes that are much in the news, gun violence and the media, in very personal terms.
“Time Stands Still,” directed by Caitlin Strom-Martin, introduces the audience to Sarah, a photojournalist who was recently injured in Iraq while on assignment. The scars on her face are indicative of the moral struggle she is facing. Her husband is also a foreign correspondent.
Sarah begins to question her lifestyle, the cumulative effects of the horrors of war and her career based on, as she says, “the sorrows of people I don’t even know and will never see again.”
Sarah and James meet Mandy, a generation younger than them, and she challenges them to “see the joy — otherwise, what’s the point?”
Donald Margulies, the author of the play, is quoted by the New York Times as saying that the play is also, “a domestic love story — a relationship drama … and is very much about the choices and compromises we all make — in love, in work and … in war.”
Strom-Martin says the play, “is not preachy, you won’t feel like you’re being talked at.”
The second play, “Church & State,” directed by Steven David Martin, is the story of a Republican U.S. Senator, running for re-election in North Carolina, who questions his belief in God after a school shooting.
A blogger captures and reports on his anguish and the play balances the serious topic with the comedic interplay between the senator’s ambitious and telegenic wife and the New Yorker who has been hired to run his campaign.
“For the hundredth time, I’m not gay,” says campaign manager Alex Klein. “You’re a Democrat from New York, it’s the same thing,” retorts Sara Whitmore.
Charles Whitmore, the candidate, battles his advisors, who want him to stay on his canned conservative message, while he agonizes over questions of faith and conscience.
Martin, the director, said he has been looking for years for a play about gun violence that isn’t preachy and doesn’t take sides. “Church & State is thoughtful, three-dimensional and sometimes even funny,” Martin said. “The play may seem to be about gun violence, but it’s also about how to have civil arguments.”
Both plays ask hard questions about hard topics and the directors are not shy about their role in challenging assumptions through community theater.
Strom-Martin notes that a theme in “Time Stands Still” is that “one of the favorite liberal pastimes is preaching to the choir.”
“Art is a form of resistance,” Strom-Martin said.
The two plays will run on alternate nights for the next three weeks, playing on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Tickets for both plays are online at raventheater.org. For ticket questions, call 707-433-6335. Ticket prices are $25 adults, $20 for seniors age 65 and older, or $10 for students. Martin said that buying tickets for both shows is $40 for adults or $30 for seniors, saving $10.
The opening night for both productions includes a meet-and-greet with the production’s cast and crew and a complimentary glass of bubbly for everyone after the show.
