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November 25, 2010
Those Who Fight Back Get Trampled in In the Footprint
The L Magazine
by Henry Stewart
In the Footprint is necessary viewing for every Brooklynite and, really, every American—it's a Times-hating, Markowitz-trashing People's History of the Atlantic Yards Project that lays out, in plain and often emotional terms, a decade of corruption, activism and David-and-Goliath loggerheads. Structured as vignettes punctuated with musical numbers, this patchworked political vaudeville is relevant in a way that theater rarely is; it feels not only of the general moment but current up-to-the-second, as if revisions are made every night based on refreshed RSS feeds. The show digs into the ongoing development of Prospect Heights' prime-real-estate rail yards (and the surrounding blocks) from every conceivable angle—from barbershop banter to an open letter by Jonathan Lethem—addressing gentrification, racial tension, class divisions, democratic process, the mechanisms of capital investment, and more. Banks' "red lines" are explained. So is ULURP—in song! It's stirring, rousing and overwhelming: it makes you want to chain yourself to a fence, lie down in front of a crane, spit in Marty Markowitz's face, or bury your head in your hands and cry.
...The show tackles basic American values: it's about ordinary people fighting to preserve their homes and the thuggish capitalism that negates the democratic ideals we profess as a country to hold dear. (The sparsely used songs by Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson's Michael Friedman are usually civic-minded, explaining bureaucratic or socioeconomic issues in a vernacular style, adopting tricky rhythms and non-singsong lyrics while maintaining a catchy charm.) The show's smart enough not to embrace a too-simplistic moral binary of developer vs. everyman—the righteous heroism of Hagan and Goldstein, for example, is called into question in a late scene. But, in the end, In the Footprint creates a damning and cynical portrait of Brooklyn-New York politics that feels easily extendable to represent all of America. The fate of 900 people stands in for the fate of a community, of a county, of a city, of a country—where the interests of the wealthy steamroll those of the working-class, and those fighting back are as fucked as those already trampled.
Related coverage...
Sean Elder, Mad all over
Ever been to see a play, staged a block from your house, about an issue that you were personally engaged in for five years? Neither had I. But having just come back from In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards at the Irondale Center, next to the Lafayette Presbyterian Church, was kind of like having personal history repeat itself, practically in my bedroom.
As my wife said when we went to see Fair Game, the movie about the Valerie Plame affair, “It makes you mad all over again.”
Difference was we weren’t personally involved in the hoax the Bush administration concocted to get us into Iraq, and 100,000 lives and a half a trillion dollars weren’t lost in the battle with Bruce Ratner over Atlantic Yards. Just a neighborhood or two, a poignant fact captured terrifically by the six cast members of In the Footprint.
...The whole side-splitting, gut-wrenching tale is brought to quick life, and early death (kind of like the Atlantic end of Fifth Avenue) — we were out of there in under two hours. That was about the time that Ratner, Bloomberg, Pataki and all the other crooks who concocted this canard thought it would take them to run away with a big chunk of BK real estate. As members of the advisory board of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, we helped slow them down; I was instrumental in getting Jonathan Lethem involved (he is represented in the play), and we hosted a fundraiser at our house, featuring readings by Jhumpa Lahiri and Jennifer Egan that raised nearly 25 grand for the legal battle against Ratner and his take-it-and-like project. But that kind of money is peanuts to people like him and the Russian billionaire who helped salvage the deal.
Which is precisely the point.
NYTimes.com, Theater Talkback: Giving Thanks in a Thankless Season
Times theater critic Charles Isherwood gives thanks for current theater productions that aren't turkeys.
Last but by no means least, the enterprising troupe the Civilians reminded us that great theater in New York City is not confined to the narrow strip of self-absorption known as Manhattan. “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards,” the company’s entertaining, insight-rich show about the controversial redevelopment plan in Brooklyn, restored my faith in the ability of theater artists to engage meaningfully with the world, here and now.
New York Magazine, Theater Review: In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards, is Social Theater At Its Best
Ideals aside, we all know we're puppets of forces much larger than our little selves. So it's comforting, when Big Money rips a big hole in Brooklyn, to see docu-theater troupe The Civillans rush in like avenging macrophages, to fill the bleeding void with smart art. In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards is a thoughtful, head-and-heart history of the mostly-disastrous Nets stadium development project, and the latest work of Civilians artistic director Steve Cosson, co-writer Jocelyn Clarke, and composer-adjutant Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, This Beautiful City).
Deploying their time-tested techniques--i.e. performing in spoken-word, scene and song the unexpurgated text of interviews conducted by company members with a wide variety of citizens, civil servants and partisans on all sides--the Civs sort through the fallout from the largest eminent domain seizure (and mass relocation of city residents) since the Robert Moses era: The half-shadowy, half-hapless, distinctly Iraq-era push to bring the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn and restore "dignity" to a borough that's been scoreless since the Dodgers bounced in 57. (Oh, and plus: Condos!)
Footprint is social theater at its querulous best, picking up the significant slack left by a vitiated journalism.
BroadwayWorld.com, The Civilians Host IN THE FOOTPRINT Benefit 12/1
The renowned, investigative theatre company The Civilians - whose newest work IN THE FOOTPRINT: THE BATTLE OVER ATLANTIC YARDS - will host a benefit performance of the play on Wednesday, December 1 at 8 pm at the Irondale Center (85 S. Oxford St.) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
The event -- entitled "A Celebration of Brooklyn Artists and Writers" - will begin at 6:30pm with a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception followed by a performance of IN THE FOOTPRINT.
The host committee for the December 1 event includes Brooklyn-based artists and writers Jennifer Egan (Found Objects), Laurie Eustis (of Lapham's Quarterly), Amitav Ghosh (Sea of Poppies), actor Logan Marshall-Green (TV's Dark Blue), Emily Mortimer (Match Point and Lovely and Amazing), Pulitzer-Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined) and Academy Award-winner Marisa Tomei.
Tickets to the benefit are $100 (including a tax-deductible donation of $75) and can be reserved by calling 718 230 3330 or online at www.thecivilians.org.
Photo: Carol Rosegg
Posted by eric at November 25, 2010 9:27 AM