WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 1, 2018 21
BUZZ
Two actors from Middle Village
fatured in off -Brodway play
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
From gang violence and mass
shootings to suicide and self-defense,
guns have become an epidemic
in America — and an upcoming
play featuring two Middle Village
actors takes aim at explaining why.
In “Subway Story (A Shooting),”
writer/director William Electric Black
attempts to show the pressures faced
by young people that cause them to
resort to violence. Presented by the
Theater for the New City, the show is
the fi ft h and fi nal chapter of Black’s
“GUNPLAYS,” a series of plays about urban
gun violence. By setting the story
in a subway car, Black also found a way
to incorporate gender identity, homelessness,
sexual abuse, Dreamers and
Islamophobia into the subject matter.
“We’re in this culture where people
are mad and angry, and when you
feel this then you squeeze this all into
the train, we let it out on each other,”
Black said. “We’re constantly feeling
the pressures of surviving.”
The main character of the play is an
African-American teenage girl named
Chevonn who is working on a nonfi ction
essay for her junior English class.
Chevonn is physically abused by her
mother and sexually abused by her
father at home, and the character
in her story is trying to fi nd a gun
to take home and shoot her mother.
As she rides the subway, Chevonn
tries to fi nd a gun by talking to other
people on the train, and she ends up
recording many of their stories in her
notebook.
One of the characters Chevonn
meets along the way is Emmett, a
transgender boy played by Middle
Village resident Natalie Marie Martino.
Emmett is bullied in school and has
a gun that he plans to use to commit
suicide, but he off ers it to Chevonn if
she will agree to shoot him fi rst.
Martino, 16, is a junior at Frank
Sinatra School of the Arts and the
youngest member of the cast. She said
that being able to learn from her elder
cast members and receiving feedback
from them has helped her grow as an
actress. More importantly, Martino
researched the history of being transgender,
spoke to a transgender friend
about how they’re treated, and came
to understand the struggles they go
through.
“I enjoy getting inside the mind of
people struggling,” Martino said. “Just
seeing the way I’m viewed by other
characters and thinking about the audience
view of him, I think about how
we’re viewing each other in society.”
With plenty of serious and
thought-provoking material, “Subway
Story (A Shooting)” also needs
some comedic relief. That’s where
fellow Middle Village resident Jeremy
Lardieri comes in. His character is an
MTA employee who appears periodically
in the train, carrying a boombox
with his shiny white gloved hand and
ready to do his best Michael Jackson
dancing impression.
Black is good friends with Lardieri’s
parents and has known him since he
was a toddler. Black recruited Lardieri
to be a choreographer and actor in
some of his past productions, and aft er
Lardieri took some time away from
his hobby to care for his newborn son,
Photos courtesy of Theater for the New City
he was eager to reunite with Black.
Lardieri said that “Subway Story (A
Shooting)” is an eye-opening show, but
at the same time very relatable.
“It’s very interesting to be part of
something that’s more in-your-face relevant,”
Lardieri said. “That night when
people leave and go on the subway,
they’ll say, ‘Oh, there’s this character’
and ‘There’s that character’ and ‘I see
that character every day.”
For Black (born Ian Ellis James),
creating works for a greater purpose
is a passion for him now. The former
Sesame Street and Nickelodeon writer
has seven Emmy awards and is a faculty
member at NYU’s Tisch School. His
hope is that “Subway Story (A Shooting)”
sells out the small 60-seat theater
its shown in and ends up helping save
some young people’s lives, he said.
“Subway Story (A Shooting)” will be
shown at Theater for the New City’s
Community Theater at First Avenue
and E. 10th Street from Feb. 22 to
March 18. More information and tickets
can be found at the Theater for the
New City Website or by calling the box
offi ce at 212-254-1109.
Natalie Marie Martino (left) and Jeremy Lardieri (right) star in the upcoming show "Subway Story (A Shooting)"