WWW.BROOKLYNPAPER.COM 1 METROTECH CENTER NORTH • 10TH FLOOR • BROOKLYN, NY 11201
Circle of life: Isabella Uzcátegui and
Kayla Asbell star in “House, or How
to Lose an Orchard in 90 Minutes or
Less,” debuting at Theater Mitu on
Aug. 23. Theater Mitu
Home stretch
New play uses film to explore the housing crisis
COURIER LIFE, A 24-7 UG. 16-22, 2019 47
By Aidan Graham Talk about a full house!
A bizarre new play in Gowanus
will explore what makes a house
a home. “House, or How to Lose an
Orchard in 90 Minutes or Less” combines
intimate first-person interviews with
Anton Chekhov’s 1903 play “The Cherry
Orchard” and the 1977 cult-classic horror
film “House,” to tell a provocative story
about the meaning of shelter, said the
show’s director.
“It’s really a meditation on these questions
of housing, and what does a house
mean?” said Rubén Polendo. “And to really
zero in, not necessarily on the statistics
of it, but more on the emotional aspects.”
The play — put on by the experimental,
technology-heavy production company
Theater Mitu — wants to engage the audience
in a larger conversation about housing,
using first-person interviews with
homeless people, the tale of a family forced
to sell their home, and eerie elements from
a haunted house story, said Polendo.
“We ran a whole host of interviews
with people who have lost their homes, or
have transitioned their homes,” he said.
“We wanted to also source a piece of
literature to look at a meditation on that
subject — that’s how we landed on ‘The
Cherry Orchard.’ And, the third piece of
the puzzle is a 1970s Japanese horror film
called ‘House,’ which adds a sense of tension
about what’s left behind.”
The show will features seven actors
performing live on stage, as well as various
television screens displaying pre-recorded
video throughout the performance.
Audience members will wear headphones,
and all the sound from the videos and
miked actors will be channeled directly to
them, said Polendo.
“It has more in common with seeing
a series of visual art installations,” he
said. “It does really feel like an intimate
conversation that’s very personal and very
emotional. The headphones really allow
for that experience.”
Polendo hopes the audience will gain
a new emotional understanding of homelessness
and the plight of those who lack
proper shelter.
“When you walk away, you walk away
affected,” he said. “That can mean a lot of
things. It can mean that you’ve heard or
felt things about the subject that you hadn’t
before, or it triggered your imagination.”
“House, or How to Lose an Orchard
in 90 Minutes or Less” at MITU580 (580
Sackett St. between Nevins Street and Third
Avenue in Gowanus, www.theatermitu.org)
Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 24–25 at 2 p.m.
and 7:30 p.m. $25.
/www.theatermitu.org
/WWW.BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/www.theatermitu.org)