In ‘The Given,’ a focus on a different kind of family

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 4 | October 20 - 26, 2006

Theater

THE GIVEN
Written by Francine Volpe
Directed by Michael Imperioli and Zetna Fuentes
Through November 11
Studio Dante
257 West 29th Street
(212-239-4500; studiodante.com)

George McLaughlin

Remy Auberjonois and Laura Heisler in Studio Dante’s new production, “The Given.”

In ‘The Given,’ a focus on a different kind of family

By Tonia Steed

At a time when traditional notions of family are under siege, many Americans have been forced to challenge, even redefine the idea of “family” to survive. Such is the lesson of Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s 2003 book “Random Family,” which introduced Americans to an extended, New York family of women, their friends and boyfriends, who were unable to break the vicious cycle of poverty, drugs, and prison that both drove them apart and bound them completely. This makeshift family—the kind built from a life on the edge—is also at the heart of “The Given,” a new play premiering at Studio Dante this month. And it’s rage—the kind that grows from struggling on this edge—that drives it forward.

Around the time that “Random Family” found its way into bookstores, Michael and Victoria Imperioli found a building on West 29th in Chelsea and created Studio Dante, a theater company focused on nurturing and producing new, progressive work. While Michael Imperioli is perhaps best known as the character Christopher in “The Sopranos,” his roots are in the theater, and this is where he his wife have invested much of their time for independent projects. Victoria Imperioli, who also designs sets and costumes for Studio Dante, tells me that they’re both drawn to the challenges of live theater: “In television, you shoot one line and then you’re done and on to the next scene. Theater work is more demanding. In our current show, for example, the lead character is on stage for the entire 2½ hours of the play. The work is a challenge—that’s what makes it exciting.”

That the work also challenges the audience is critical. Studio Dante’s mission has been to explore tough terrain with a fresh eye, and to this end, the Imperiolis and Studio Dante’s literary manager Francine Volpe solicit new work and develop it in close collaboration with the writer. A young playwright herself, Volpe’s plays often lead to Studio Dante productions, as is the case with “The Given.” It’s set in New York, like many of the company’s past plays, and while Studio Dante plans to reach out nationally and internationally for plays to build future seasons, as Victoria Imperioli admits, “Our hearts are close to work in New York.”

Thematically, on the other hand, the plays vary widely. Volpe notes that in writing her own plays and in considering others for production, she is less interested in style and theme than she is in strong, well-rounded characters and emotional courage. What’s most important in selecting plays, adds Imperioli, is what they can potentially bring to an audience. “We look for plays that feel true. Francine showed us this story that she’d written in just two weeks. It was ‘The Given.’ This was a relevant, real New York play. We knew right away we wanted to do it.”

Zetna Fuentes, who co-directs “The Given” with Michael Imperioli, agrees. Fuentes also co-directed Volpe’s play “Late Fragment,” which opened Studio Dante’s 2005-06 season. “Francine is exactly the kind of young artist and playwright that Studio Dante wants to work with. She’s not afraid to tackle difficult subject matter, or present a new way of looking at the world.”

As with “Random Family,” Volpe’s play paints powerful personalities against a backdrop of rage and violence, and finds a fundamental beauty in bonds formed under siege. It centers on a makeshift family of three friends: 26-year-old Calthea, a Polish girl from Queens (where Volpe grew up) who works as a stripper to support herself and her grandmother; Calthea’s childhood friend Swannee, who is young, gay, poor, and African American; and Leon, a “bug chaser” — a gay man who pursues a man infected with HIV, hoping to feel a part of something larger than himself. Chasing the bug, in other words, is his perverse way of chasing love.

This is not a heart-warming domestic drama: members of this little family have been abused—by those they love, by circumstance, and a system that rejected them as it pushed them to the margins. Abuse fuels anger, and anger has its repercussions.

“‘The Given’ is about unexpressed rage,” Volpe remarks. “When you have a group of people who feel abandoned and abused, the rage builds, and their problems eventually become yours.”

And yet this is a real family, says Fuentes, one audiences will easily recognize. “Even though these characters live unconventional lives,” she explains, “their struggles are ours, in or outside of the margins.”