November 11-17, 2004

artpicks

Smear Campaign

by Cory Frolik

theater

Carl Kazinetz switched career tracks from television to theater, wanting to be part of what he saw as a "renaissance" in the form. He embarked on this by founding Growden Theatre Company, which debuts this week at the Shubin with a new play, Tight Race, by local playwright Ed Sabato.

The show stars Jessica Roazzi (Tony n' Tina's Wedding, American Family Theater's Cinderella) as a congressional speechwriter who happens upon some treachery targeted at discrediting her candidate's opponent. Help manifests itself in an unlikely place when she finds friendship and more in the janitor, played by Miguel Angel Feliciano (City of Champions: A Football Fantasia).

Literary critic Terry Eagleton says "comedy is tragedy diffused," and here, Sabato plays out the serious implications of sacrifice in the name of morality with humor. Tight Race is a comedy that examines whether doing the right thing is worth breaking the continuity of a comfortable life.

With the results of a tight and rather devastating election (for just a little less than half the country) very prominent in people's thoughts, political discourse in art could be dicey. Tight Race, though set in a congressional office, is light on political ideology, thereby avoiding offending any particular group. Kazinetz says, "The writer did not want to get all soapbox, he left it neutral. It's a story of morals and ethics."

Tight Race, with only two characters and a minimalistic set, is a perfect match for its venue. The Shubin Theatre is insistent on its providing affordable lodging for small theater productions and independent artists, and tickets are $10 to $12.

No smoking in the theater. And no soapboxes allowed.

Tight Race, Nov. 16-21, $10-$12, Growden Theatre Company at the Shubin Theatre, Fourth and Bainbridge sts., 215-592-0119, www.growdentheatre.org.