Only 5 more chances to see VTG's "Joined at the Head"
Currently at Glen Ellyn's Village Theatre Guild is the award-winning “Joined at the Head” by celebrated New York playwright Catherine Butterfield.
The play runs Friday and Saturday evenings thru Nov 9th at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday Nov 3rd, at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $18 and can be reserved by calling 630-469-8230.
Published in the Best Plays of 1992-93, it is the story of Maggie Mulroney who is on a promotional tour for her novel “Joined at the Head.” She gets an invitation to visit with her old high school flame, Jim, and his wife (also named Maggy).
The two women strike up an immediate friendship notwithstanding the total disparity in their characters: Maggie the novelist is intensely self-examining and analytical while Maggy retains a warm and giving response to the world. Maggie acts as the play's narrator from time to time, commenting upon the process of her writing while also shrewdly dissecting her relationship to her former boyfriend's wife.
In discussing the play, director Craig Berger evokes American playwright David Mamet who divides all theatre into two categories: escapism and engagement.
‘“Joined at the Head” is engagement which is more than just a fun desert; it has substance that may help someone re-look at their relationships and own life path. I believe the play is both entertaining and engaging,” says Berger.
“Jim, Maggie, and Maggy help each other see the world as they each see it, and that allows each to accept the new difficult path that they each are on.”
To Berger there is one primary artist in theatre: the playwright. Actors, directors, designers, are secondary artists who work together in partnership with the writer.
“I work to make the story clear to the audience and truthful to the primary artist, the playwright. I work hard to assist the actors to be real.”
In this riveting portrait of self-awakening, art and life come fluidly to interact. Maggie's instinct for the fictitious collides with a newfound yearning to relate to life through the immediacy of her newest, closest friend.
“Joined at the Head” was performed at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1992 and won the Robert L. Stevens/Kennedy Center award for excellence.
The Village Theatre Guild is Glen Ellyn's community theatre company located northwest of the intersection of Park Blvd. and Butterfield Rd. For more information, visit VTG at www.villagetheatreguild.org.