"From Darkness" at nimbus theatre

Everything I know about art I learned from playing the game Masterpiece as a kid (Private Auction! anyone?) and from the Baroque Art History class I took at the University of Salzburg (a pretty amazing experience because we took field trips to Vienna and Rome to see the art we were studying). So I don't know much, but I am fascinated by art and art history. But I've never thought much about art forgery, which adds a whole new level of fascination. This topic is the inspiration for nimbus theatre's new play From Darkness, written (along with the ensemble) and directed by co-Artistic Director Josh Cragun. Specifically, how does someone with the skill of an art master decide to practice art forgery instead of creating original work? From Darkness sets fictional art forger Stanley Mansfield among real artists in NYC's post-WWII abstract art scene and attempts to answer this question, as well as explore ideas of what makes art valuable. It's a fascinating, thought-provoking play, and as is often the case when I see a play at nimbus, it made me want to find out more about the topic.

Caravaggio's The Denial of St. Peter

We follow two groups of characters in two different time periods in NYC - a group of artists and art collectors in the '30s, '40s, and '50s, and art curators at the Met in the current day. Both stories center around the above piece of art - The Denial of St. Peter by Caravaggio (one of my favorite artists from the Baroque Art History class). A new curator at the Met discovers something off about the painting, leading her to research its history. At the same time, we're watching Stanley Mansfield's life and career as an artist unfold. He's a figurative painter at a time when abstract painting is all the rage. He watches his friends (including Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner) succeed while he struggles to find his place. Through a series of circumstances, his career begins to take a different path. At the end of the play the two stories come together, and we're left wondering just who the bad guy is, if there is one.

Nicholas Nelson as the forger Stanley Mansfield

Everyone in the eight-person ensemble plays multiple characters, except for Nicholas Nelson who plays forger Stanley Mansfield, and makes his transition believable and sympathetic. Highlights in the ensemble include Art Peden as the older Stanley, Zach Morgan as his stern father and the tempestuous Pollack, and Heidi Berg as the strict art curator and gallery owner Betty Parsons. The clever set is constructed of rotating panels, opening up to form different locations, revealing reproductions (by Ursula K. Bowden) of different paintings, from Caravaggio to Pollack. The rotating panels make for some awkward scene transitions, which are nicely covered by period music and images of paintings, buildings, or old New York displayed on either side of the stage. And I recognized a few of my favorite Masterpiece paintings in the images projected before the show and during intermission. (Set design by Brian Hesser, video design by Caitlin Hammel.)

As a new play, From Darkness feels a bit long and could be tightened up a bit, but the multiple characters and timelines are nicely woven together and the ideas explored compelling, relevant, and definitely worth exploring. Who decides what art is worthwhile, and which artists are worthy of acclaim? If a viewer gets as much enjoyment from a reproduction of a painting as the original, isn't that worth something too? Fashion designers don't physically construct the garments they design (except on Project Runway); someone else makes them according to the designer's specifications. That's not so very different from Mansfield constructing a painting following Caravaggio's design. In the current age of the internet, reproductions and replications of all forms of art abound. As long as the original creator is given credit, and we all know what's going on, isn't that a good thing, to spread art to as many people as possible? I don't know, but these are some of the things this play made me think about.

As Caravaggio excelled in the technique of extreme light and dark known as chiaroscuro, "from darkness, light," nimbus theatre excels at creating original work around an interesting topic, bringing to life on their stage relevant ideas and questions about various facets of life and history. From Darkness continues through June 14 (discount tickets available on Goldstar).

"The Lower Depths" at nimbus theatre

The Lower Depths, an early 20th century Russian play about people living in poverty in a homeless shelter, is pretty dark and depressing, but it's also a fascinating exploration of the universal themes of life, truth, and relationships. As director and adapter Josh Cragun notes in the playbill, "fundamentally, it is a show about humanity and what it really means to be human." The nimbus theatre production places the story in Depression-era America. This large cast of diverse characters, embodied by a talented ensemble, lives in a run-down building, with only a bunk to call their own, and shares the joy and desperation of life with each other. Plotlines include a love triangle, illness, alcoholism, and depression, but more important are the ideas and the characters that are drawn. The ending offers no closure, but instead seems to say that this life and these people continue on.

In a beautifully run-down and cluttered shack of a building (nicely designed by Zach Morgan), we meet a group of people down on their luck (as many people were in the Depression). Among them are an immigrant couple, an actor, a shoemaker, a formerly wealthy society lady, and a prostitute. Keeping them in line are the dysfunctional family of the landlord, his wife, and her sister. Into their midst comes a self-described pilgrim, affectionately called "old man" or "gramps" by the others. He listens to the residents, comforts them, and tells them what they need to hear to soothe or provoke them into action. Love, abuse, camaraderie, death, and celebration all have their place here in the lower depths. One of the residents happily exclaims that all you need is "food, drink, music, and friends," but there's a desperation hiding beneath the surface of the frivolity of drinking and the daily routines of shopping and sweeping. As the Wikipedia page nicely sums up, "The theme of harsh truth versus the comforting lie pervades the play from start to finish, as most of the characters choose to deceive themselves from the bleak reality of their condition."

the cast of The Lower Depths
(photo by Mathieu Lindquist)

This is truly an ensemble piece, and nimbus has assembled a really nice ensemble of 14 actors. All of them have their moment to shine, particularly in the second act when plot gives way to a series of monologues about life, truth, and the human condition, and they all use it well. It seems a shame to call out any of them because they all do a fine job. But if I must: standouts include Andrew Sass in his intense portrayal of Karl (at the apex of the love triangle), Art Peden as the kind and gentle old man, a sympathetic Emily A. Grodzik as the abused sister, Nicholas Nelson as the tormented actor (of whose opera-trained voice we only hear a sample), and Brian Hesser as the genial drunk. The appropriately shabby and lived-in costumes (designed by Barb Portinga) help to create the characters, and the tone is set by Depression-era music playing before and after and the show and during scene changes, and all too briefly sung by the cast.

The Lower Depths plays at nimbus theatre's space in Northeast Minneapolis through December 22. It's nice counter-programming to the likes of A Christmas Carol, and deals with some of the same themes of poverty and generosity, but in a more somber way. I'll leave you with another quote from the director:

In a time when issues of class disparity, morality and social welfare are taking the spotlight in our national conversation, this 110-year-old work has never felt like it had more to say. But the remarkable part about this play is that it does not preach. It simply shows. A world, a diverse set of characters, and their diverse set of views on truth and the human condition. Each one has insights, Each one has weaknesses. we are left to come to our own conclusions.