 | Heather Woodbury |
As part of its special events program "Splash: a series of artists making waves," the Yale Repertory Theatre will present Heather Woodbury's one-woman show "What Ever: An American Odyssey in Eight Acts."
"What Ever" spans the 20th century and criss-crosses America. It follows 10 main characters -- including a child from Oregon, a philandering oil executive, a street-smart prostitute and an elderly patrician with a bohemian past -- as they go on personal journeys, bumping into scores of incidental characters and, eventually, each other. The story touches on everything from the Jazz Age to the rave scene to corporate ethics to Kurt Cobain's ghost.
The show will be presented in four installments of two acts each Wednesday-Saturday, April 9-12, at the New Theater, 1156 Chapel St. The story deepens with every installment, but each one stands on its own as a fully realized play, so audience members may attend all, or any number of, the performances.
"What Ever" had its genesis in the back of a bar in New York City, where for nine months straight Woodbury -- in response to a friend's dare -- performed an entirely new show every week. The yarn she spun was shortened and tightened into today's version by that same friend, director Dudley Saunders. "What Ever" has been produced as a radio serial drama on stations in Chicago and Boston and excerpts of the production have aired on National Public Radio's "This American Life."
The Chicago Sun-Times described "What Ever" as "a sort of one-woman Nicholas Nickleby for the millennium ... a Whitmanesque vision of America at the end of the 20th century."
Woodbury has performed at New York's Public Theater and Performance Space 122, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, Laurie Anderson's Meltdown Festival in London, Amsterdam's Triple X Festival, and Ireland's Galway and Dublin Festivals among many other venues. Her honors include a commission from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays and a National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communication Group playwrighting fellowship. In 2001-2002, Woodbury was the playwright-in-residence at Joseph Papp Public Theater, where she worked on her latest piece, "Tale of 2 Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks."
In conjunction with the show, "Splash" is presenting "Traversing America: Landscapes, Cityscapes and Fire Escapes," an exhibit of photography by Connecticut artists Sharon Hirsch, Aidan Moran and Steve Sherman which will be on view in the Lobby Gallery of the New Theater. The pieces seen in "Traversing America" were selected to suggest the many locales inhabited by Woodbury's characters in "What Ever." The Lobby Gallery is open to the public one hour prior to each performance. The concessions bar featuring light snacks, beer and wine will also be open at this time.
"Splash: a series of artists making waves" is dedicated to presenting diverse theater performers in their own works. Artists who have appeared in past special events include Spalding Grey, Eric Bogosian, Karen Finley and David Sedaris.
"What Ever: An American Odysses in Eight Acts" will be presented at 8 p.m. on Wednesday (Acts 1 & 2), Thursday (Acts 3 & 4) and Friday (Acts 5 & 6) and at 4 p.m. on Saturday (Acts 7 & 8). Tickets for all four performances are $55 for the general public, $36 for students. Tickets for individual performances are $20 for the general public, $15 for students. Tickets are available by phone at (203) 432-1234, in person at the Yale Rep box office (1120 Chapel St.), and online at www.yalerep.org.
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