Images and Omnium Gatherum

There's no questioning the Therese Rebeck is a talented playwright. The woman who wrote Mauritius, Bad Dates has also written some rather intelligent work for network television. There is, however, the question of Omnium Gatherum. Co-Written by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, the premise of the 2003 satire is a simple dinner party amongst intellectuals discussing current events and concerns. A conversation between characters analogous to prominent contemporary intellectuals covers topics such as American imperialism, the origins of Muslim terrorism, the issues between Israel and Palestine and what it means to be a hero.

Theresa Rebeck is a solidly talented playwright but in light of a the changing face of middle-eastern politics, can ANY conversation from nearly a decade ago feel fresh enough to remain dynamic? I don't know. It'™s something that Windfall Theatre will be looking into later on this month in a production that honestly looks pretty good. Any conversation, scripted or otherwise, is only as interesting as the people who are a part of it and this looks like a really interesting cast: Ben George, Carol Zippel, Amy Hansmann, Christopher Elst and more.

I wasn'™t as interested about this show just reading about it, but the promo photography really drew me in. With a whole bunch of people on one side of the table, these pics can'™t help but look a bit like The Last Supper. Any staging of a dinner party this large is going to end up looking like the classic Da Vicni unless they do it in the round, but the pics show a potentially very dynamic cast that should be a lot of fun, particularly in the intimacy of Windfall's studio theater. I'™m looking forward to this one.  

Windfall Theatre'™s production of Omnium Gatherum runs September 23^rd through October 8^th. at Village Church Arts. For reservations, call 414-332-3963.