Breaking
Through the Cultural Apartheid
by
Jay Blotcher
Ulster
County residents Bruce Grund, 79 and Michael Monasterial, 44, come
from different worlds, but their love of theater and belief in its
capacity for social change links them. After meeting initially at
a Tuesday night workshop for playwrights at Art Society of Kingston
on the Rondout, their ongoing discussions resulted in a partnership
between their respective production companies, Grund’s Apocalypse
Productions and Monasterial’s Passing the Torch through Arts.
The
new hybrid has already borne fruit: a pair of socially explosive
plays which will play nine times throughout the month of October
at The Art Society of Kingston: When the Chickens Come Home to Roost
and Recidivism, both directed by Grund.
When
the Chickens Come Home to Roost concerns the symbiotic and later
contentious relationship between civil rights leader Malcolm X and
his mentor Elijah Mohammed which led to X’s assassination
in 1965. In this Lawrence Holder play, Monasterial plays Malcolm
X opposite Stephen M. Jones as the imperious leader of the American
Muslim movement.
Recidivism
is a play written by Monasterial. The coldly technical word, known
to correctional officers and social behaviorologists, refers to
incarcerated people who upon release, eventually slip back into
crime. In this one-act, a father and son confront the social patterns
and personal demons that caused their troubles. Recidivism stars
local actors Keith Bullock, Joel Yimbo Jr., Ricky Cannon, Tom Andriello
and Jalon Jones.
The
two plays are linked by many themes concerning African-American
life and a legacy of injustice. Yet more simply, both plays deal
with the primal dynamic between a father and his son, whether biological
as in Recidivism or spiritual as in Chickens. Veteran director Grund
had a clear impetus for bringing these plays to ASK...CONTINUE...
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