Theater in NY: About Alice at TFANA in Brooklyn, NY

Theatre For a New Audience presents a play by Calvin Trillin “About Alice” on January 8 – February 3, 2019

Shortly after Calvin Trillin’s memoir “About Alice” was published  in 2007, it was adapted by the author for a two-character play. Trillin, a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, wrote movingly about his late wife Alice in several books and essays.  At the suggestion of TFANA artistic director Jeffrey Horowitz who knew Alice when she was making an educational series on PBS, the work on the play “About Alice” continued for some time culminating in this theatrical run at TFANA.

The genuine performance by Jeffrey Bean as Calvin Trillin and Carrie Paff as Alice tell a touching story of how they met at a party, fell in love, and kept the precious light of their love burning for many years. It is telling that when a shorter version of the memoir “Alice, Off the Page” appeared in The New Yorker, people who did not know Alice personally kept writing to Mr. Trillin about their fascination with his wife’s cheerful nature, happiness with the world around her, and a sense of wholeness. With humor and utmost love the play tactfully lets the audience into the family life with all of its ups and downs. Get tickets at 56% off with TodayTIX

 

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The play starts with a thought that the world really didn’t know Alice that well. Reading about her in Trillin’s books and articles or reading her own publications is like peeking into someone’s life through the window. It’s a tall order to recreate on stage the life and relationships of our contemporaries, but the actors absolutely succeed at it.

Carrie Paff’s Alice is as cheerful, smart and positive in each and every life situation as likely the real Alice was or at least as we want her to be. Jeffrey Bean as her good-humored and sensible husband is perpetually in love with his wife of many years. Calvin still tries to impress Alice with his wit and jokes which she clearly likes albeit her comment that he was the funniest the first time they met.

“But will he love me like Calvin loves Alice?”

The play follows them from the time when they met at a party in the mid-60s all the way to the agonizing last days in 2001 when Alice died awaiting a heart transplant. Everyday moments and mundane tasks get new significance as time passes by. What stays throughout the story is contentment with what is given and a will to enjoy it in full.

Even though the title suggests that it’s about Alice, it is in equal part, if not more about Calvin. For those in the audience who don’t personally know Mr. Trillin, Jeffrey Bean’s sincere performance secures a sympathetic image of a goofy and delicate husband.

The elegant staging by Leonard Foglia, tender and timely humor of the script, and a fluid pace of the play are in perfect harmony with the tale of love. No wonder that a quote “But will he love me like Calvin loves Alice?” gets its place at the beginning of the play and stays in the air till the end.

So if you are hungry for a truly wonderful theater, hurry up as the play is running only through February 3, 2019.

 

About Alice performance time is for approximately 75 minutes with no intermission.

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Dates: January 8 – February 3, 2019

Venue: Theatre For a New Audience at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11217