The cast of Duels (Andrea Sassenrath) |
Duels
amador/stokes
(at 12th
Avenue Arts)
Through September
10, 2016
In a
metaphorical and concrete way, Irene
tends her garden, in the premiere of Nick
Stokes’ play, Duels, mounted with
the help of director Jose Amador,
and presented at 12th Avenue Arts. But this garden has more than
vegetables in it. It has become the graves of her husband and lover.
Walking into the
room at 12AA, one is immediately met by the pungent smell of dirt packed into
inverted triangles with a path between them. Plantings immediately bring to
mind a vegetable garden, but lying there, as well, are the two men in the play.
Carter Rodriquez and Daniel Christensen play Juan and John,
the two men in Irene’s life.
At first, we see
Irene (Marianna de Fazio), coping
confidently and graciously with birthing a new calf, sure of her ability to
manage the facets of country urban farming on her own. But suddenly, Juan and
John arise and face each other in an inexplicable duel, while she explains that
they’ve killed each other and walks them through the process of doing it again.