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January 22, 2011
In ‘Footprint,’ it’s big business vs. the people
The Boston Globe
By Don Aucoin
Hell hath no fury like a neighborhood dissed, especially if said neighborhood is located in the pugnacious, dukes-up borough of Brooklyn.
So when residents of Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights area felt they were being steamrolled by a massive development proposal called Atlantic Yards, which called for the displacement of residents and businesses to make way for more than a dozen high-rise buildings and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets, they mobilized to push back.
Their seven-year struggle against powerful business and political interests intent on pushing through the project is the subject of the fiery, fast-paced, and sharp-edged “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards.’’ A combination of monologues, scenes, and songs performed by The Civilians, a troupe devoted to “investigative theater,’’ this is populism you can hum along to.
Related coverage...
The Boston Phoenix, Review: In the Footprint: The Battle over Atlantic Yards
By CAROLYN CLAY
I've seen a lot of musicals in development; this is the first I've seen about development. Acting as a collective Anna Deavere Smith, New York–based investigative troupe the Civilians spent two years researching and interviewing for In the Footprint: The Battle over Atlantic Yards (presented by ArtsEmerson at the Paramount Black Box through January 23). The musical-theater piece, which opened two months ago in New York, chronicles the seven-year war over 22 acres of Brooklyn fated to fall to the wrecking ball but refusing to go down easy. The object: to make way for a pricy sports arena and high-rise business-and-condominium project spearheaded by real-estate mogul and part owner of the New Jersey Nets Bruce Ratner. Some New York–centric details may not resonate with Boston audiences, but issues of urban renewal (of which we've botched a few) are as hoary — and as pertinent — as Jane Jacobs's 1961 tome The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Moreover, the Civilians tart up their reportage with catchy ditties about eminent domain and community division, one of them delivered by a chorus of bloggers in bathrobes.
The Hub Review, Don't tread on them
This portrait of civic sleaze is depressing enough, but where In the Footprint breaks from the pack is in its merciless dissection of the liberal political cover Rattner deployed to get his way. Dangling the usual goodie-basket of minimum-wage jobs and some token low-income housing, the Rattnerettes deftly deployed a strategy of divide-and-conquer that left local activists sputtering. With Jay-Z, basketball, and new jobs on his side, it was easy for Rattner to depict residents unhappy with the scheme as merely racist gentrifiers - which he promptly did. The resulting fireworks are sometimes ugly, but always pointedly funny - in fact, I can't think of a more accurate portrayal of the Way We Live Now that I've seen on any local stage in several years. And somehow the Civilians manage to keep sympathy with the community's many opposing viewpoints even as they lightly satirize them - except, of course, when it comes to the repulsive Rattner (who's portrayed by a Tonka truck) or the vapid Gehry (played by his latest titanium doodle).
Downtown Lynn, The Lynn Footprint
In the play, a whole neighborhood is pretty much handed over to a developer along with an unrestricted ability to take whatever they needed by eminent domain. This of course took years and lots of court time, but it eventually got done. Of course, the project was not anything like what was originally planned and the city government never took ONE SINGLE VOTE on the project. They basically had no control. No city planner. Sound familiar?
Posted by steve at January 22, 2011 11:17 AM