Luce at Lincoln Center

[dave1606]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 5:33pm

Has anyone seen this? I am going tonight and haven't heard much about it one way or the other. Haven't been to this new space yet so looking forward to it!

[dave1606]

Posted: 11/1/13 at 10:32am

Clearly this play is not on many people's radar, but I feel that it should be. First of all, its only $20, but better than many of the new plays this season. It has the themes of The Winslow Boy, with a bit of Clybourne Park (done in my opinion much better here) mixed in.

The play centers around student Luce, whose mother is summoned to meet with his teacher in the first scene of the play due to an essay that he wrote. What's more there is something found in his locker that, combined with the essay has signaled alarm. What follows is a series of questions about who Luce is or isn't.

There are definitely a few missteps (some requiring some serious suspension of disbelief) and questions of why people don't just sit down and say exactly what they mean. But the direction is superb, cast is excellent and overall this proved to be a very engaging 100 minutes.

I was thrilled to Sharon Washington from the Scottsboro Boys here giving a great performance. Marin Hinkle as Luce's mother is also very strong.

I'm not going to suggest that its a perfect piece, but it was one that got my brain working, and I had a healthy discussion about it afterwards, and I especially enjoyed JC Lee's dialogue. The set is very clever and did much more with the space than I expected. Overall, for $20 this is a can't miss in my opinion.

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/1/13 at 3:28pm

I thought it was extremely well-acted by all, but the play didn't come together well enough for me. JC Lee is obviously a writer with talent, but I don't think he's quite there yet. I felt the same way about the last production I saw at LCT3, A Kid Like Jake.