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The scene is set. Dusk has blanketed Inwood Hill Park. The heat of the day lingers. A vast expanse of wilderness lies beyond. A train rumbles down the tracks, shadowing the Bronx shoreline.
In a moment like this, someone could forget they’re sitting in the largest, most densely packed city in the U.S., and be wholly spirited away to another place and time: such as Tombstone, Arizona, 1882.
“Tombstone (Saga of Americans: The West),” the summer’s second offering by Moosehall Theatre Company during its annual series of performances, opened on the Inwood Hill Park Peninsula, Wed., July 14.
Director Aaron Simms described the play as “epic” in its proportions, and epic it was. The cast included 30 actors and a dog. The Henry Hudson Bridge, the river, the hills, the cliffs, frame the scenes. At one point in the play, guns are fired, echoing through Inwood Hill Park.
The play was written by Ted Minos and is based loosely on the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral.
At first glance, a traditional western may seem like an odd fit in a place as thoroughly eastern and solidly urban as New York City. But Simms said he chose the story because it is a classic story about the American Dream.
“It’s essentially about settlement and the creation of a community that never existed before,” said Simms. “Everyone had a reason for being there, same as everyone has a reason to be in New York City.”
Tombstone drew miners, gamblers, prostitutes and bankers from Chicago. It drew Chinese railroad workers, ex-slaves, southern belles, Mexican ranchers, and Catholic social workers. People brought their sociological conditioning with them, said Simms. Much like people arrive in New York with their baggage from a plethora of places. Except in Tombstone, there was no established organization to the society, no parameters, no law.
The characters all chased their own particular version of the American Dream, however one caveat seemed to hang conspicuously over their heads. The image of a birdcage was conjured time and again, and not just in reference to the “fallen doves” of China Mary’s red light district. Despite the newfound freedoms of a lawless and unsettled town, all the characters seemed to be bound in a new space and under a new set of parameters. And bound to play out their roles in a new drama.
The confines are clear at the end. Mattie, the former wife of Wyatt Earp, must go begging to get her old job back at the brothel, trading life in one type of birdcage for another.
“Lord things come round,” says Madame Sally. “Sing.”
“Pardon Ma’am?” is Mattie’s incredulous response.
“You heard me, this is the Bird Cage old Dove,” said Madame Sally. “Sing.”
The show will run every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, at the Peninsula in Inwood Hill Park, from now through July 31.
For more information, visit: http://www.moosehallisf.org.
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