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November 22, 2010
Just Like the Real Thing, Almost No One Will Like Atlantic Yards Play
NY Observer
by Matt Chaban
Could anyone have hoped to make an interesting play out of Atlantic Yards? On the one hand, it seems to have all the drama and excitement necessary: heroes and villains, race and class issues, a beautiful Brooklyn setting. On the other hand: internminable lawsuits and ULURP.
Fort Greene-based theater company The Civilians appears to have gone with the latter route in its new show, "In the Footprint," which even includes a song about the city's land-use review process.
The Brooklyn Paper's theater critic found the play, basically a series of monologues drawn from interviews with the key players in the real-life drama, to be confusing and overly wonky—the sort of thing only those well acquainted with the project would understand, and thus would have no reason to see, it would seem.
NoLandGrab: That's a patent misreading of opponents of the Atlantic Yards project. Having been shafted at nearly every turn, they're only too happy to embrace something — including a theatrical production — that gives some validation to what they've been saying all along. And by many accounts, In the Footprint does just that.
Related coverage...
Off Broadway World, The Civilians Host Talk Backs In Conjunction With IN THE FOOTPRINT, Kicks Off 11/20
The award-winning investigative theater company The Civilians will present a series of "Talk Backs" during the world-premiere run of the company's newest show, IN THE FOOTPRINT: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards, performing now through December 11 at the Irondale Center, 85 S. Oxford St. in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Tuesday evening (8 pm) and Saturday matinee (2 pm) performances of IN THE FOOTPRINT will be "Neighborhood Nights" featuring post-show discussions. (Brooklyn residents will receive a special discount to these performances. For more info, visit www.thecivilians.org). The talk backs will feature an assortment of guests with expertise and first-hand experience with the play's subject matter: the years-long controversy surrounding the plan to develop the 22-acre Atlantic rail yards in Brooklyn, on a site that is a mere two blocks from the Irondale Center. The discussions will focus on such relevant topics as urban planning, Brooklyn history, affordable housing, eminent domain, and how decisions that affect the shape of New York City are made.
Posted by eric at November 22, 2010 9:46 AM