You might say The Wood (“The Headline, the front page”) is about Mike McAlary, a lifelong passionate newspaperman to his bones. You might say it’s about what he himself called “a story to stop the city,” an event so unthinkable New York simply didn’t believe it, played out through the experience of a man who did. I would suggest its heart and gut lie in examination of the cost of truth and that McAlary’s birds eye view of Hell has become an extremely compelling, if somewhat flawed play.
“…This is a tale straight from the police dungeon, an allegation of brutality at the hands of cops from Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct that seems so impossible, so crudely medieval…” The frightful whisperings from a Coney Island hospital bed by Mike McAlary -The Daily News. August 10th 2007.
When McAlary wrote those words about the horrific beating and sodomizing of Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, he went against advice, warnings and threats at every level of involvement. While doggedly pursuing the facts despite issues of credibility rising from use of questionable sources in a 1994 Prospect Park rape case, he was battling the debilitating effects of the advanced colon cancer that took his life at 41. His expose was, against all odds, the catalyst for eventual justice. (It won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize).
“McAlary Gets His Own Column” read the projected headlines. Rousing toasts at a local watering hole ensue. The hero extricates himself addressing the audience with sincerity and enthusiasm. He’s likeable. At 14, McAlary tells us, he stole his father’s car and drove to the Boston Herald announcing “…I’m willing to do anything because I’m gonna end up working here.” As luck would have it, he was introduced to sportswriter, Mike Lupica, who, the story goes, called the following week to assign the boy a high school basketball game he was unable to cover. It was Cambridge Latin High, where Patrick Ewing played. McAlary was the only white face in the gym and got soundly beaten up afterward. They took his money but not his notebook. When Lupica went to The Daily News, the boy followed.
Twenty years later, we watch McAlary (John Viscardi) skip out on chemotherapy when he gets a potentially headline generating telephone call. His editor (Thomas Kopache) is skeptical about the lead.Through many dozen small scenes whose fluidity is unfortunately impeded by ungainly staging, we watch the story unfold. Abner Louima (Vladamir Versailles) is positioned stage left even before the journalist meets him in hospital, a kind of ghost of things to come or Greek chorus. Curiously, this works, not the least due to the still, intense focus of a very fine actor.
The integrity, passion, and cocky stubbornness that fueled McAlary are made visceral in this dramatization. Depiction of his interview style is artful and revealing. His wife, Alice (Kim Director), unfortunately written with all the definition of a plot device, comes in and out of what’s essentially a men’s story. The journalist’s place among his fellows—here represented by the opinionated Tommy Walsh—(David Deblinger) is deftly described. Navigation through the infested waters of New York politics is more implied than illustrated, but what’s shown is, as they say, cherce. Still, the presence of an actual politician would’ve added breadth and balance. An interview with the accused cop, Justin Volpe (Michael Carlsen) is effectively startling. Intermittent hospital scenes are made credible by minimizing medical dialogue and the gentle presence of a very human doctor (Sidney Williams).
Representation of Louima and his wife, Micheline (Melanie Charles) is particularly vivid, both when alone and happy before the fact and during subsequent wrenching sickbed interviews. The couple comes to life with specificity that make them real and sympathetic, forcing us to share the pain, fury, fear and impotence of what occurs.
This is a story whose resolution is well known. Dramatically, it’s the in-your-face journey that counts, a journey we definitely take with author Dan Klores and his mostly terrific cast. Much of the piece has terrific snap and crackle. Some is heart rending. The incident itself is well played and no less shocking for being somewhat visibly obscured. Interviews are artful and fraught. Only time with the character and his wife is a weaker link.
The formidably talented John Viscardi (Mike McAlary) gives a completely arresting, multi-layered performance. Finessing a delicate interview, we see both compassion and the compulsion to get answers in every look and gesture. Dismissing death with quick humor and purposeful focus elsewhere, the actor shares an intimate flicker of fear. To watch and listen to Viscardi talk about journalism is to understand the generation of masters that include Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin, and Murray Kempton. Every bit of excitement, commitment and wonder is made visceral.
Vladamir Versailles’ precisely drawn characterization of Abner Louima is profoundly moving. From the moment the actor comes on stage, his formidable stage presence draws our attention. His portrayal is filled with differential observation, from the way Louima carries himself (before) and the stylized phrasing not only of his own language but of English, to hospital dialogue during which the rawness of his state is embodied in every way possible and then some.
Melanie Charles’ beautifully calibrated Micheline Louima (she also plays a nurse) exudes simple, earthy, warmth, riveting despair, burgeoning panic, and tender, persuasive gratitude. Charles’ performance is so sure and naturalistic, she evokes empathy rather than sympathy.
Kim Director (Alice McAlary) has little to work with in the role, as written, of an archetype. She appears to be all facial expressions in the first act and anticipates several responses but finds more secure ground in the second.
Of the good supporting company, all of whom have fine moments, Thomas Kopache (Dave Hecht/Editor/Cop/George Marks) stands out with genuinely different characterizations of each role, all solidly grounded.
Director David Bar Katz does a splendid job with his actors, most of whom bring life to the jury of history. His pacing within scenes is excellent and varied in a way that effectively serves the play. Unfortunately, the staging of this piece is so problematic, it does harm. Transitions from scene to scene are clumsy, noisy and distracting. Breaks in narrative often hurt the emotional thru line. All the shifting furniture is simply not that important.
John McDermott’s Set Design does not, to my mind contribute. The backdrop collage of torn newspaper looks contrived. A single pile of actual newspapers is the most evocative thing on stage and might’ve been multiplied. While I have no issue with projections placing certain scenes, the perpetually actor-moved white curtain on which they’re often shown is irritating. A play of stark reality, even under economic constraints, deserves a like minded set.
Photo Credit: Sandra Coudert
1: John Viscardi portrays Mike McAlary
2. John Viscardi, Sidney Williams and Kim Director
5. John Viscardi and Vladimir Versailles
The Wood by Dan Klores
Directed by David Bar Katz
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
224 Waverly Place – between Perry and West 11th St.
www.ticketcentral.com or 212-279-6200
Through October 9, 2011
