The Misunderstanding
by Albert Camus
Summer 2011
(Part 3 of The Exiled Trilogy)
Lacuna Artist Lofts
directed by Kevin V. Smith
assistant directed by Elisabeth Barnick
featuring Melissa Lorraine, Laura Jones, Daiva Bhandari, Kevin V. Smith, and Theo Tougne
The culmination of The Exiled Trilogy, Camus’ play involving a mother and daughter driven to murder in order to escape the suffocation of a nation crippled by totalitarianism was the author’s response to the Nazi occupation of France during WWII. The play received an abstract, heavily conceptual reimagining in Smith’s demanding physical staging. A heavy duty transparent tarp was the defining image of the piece, under which Lorraine and Jones (as the mother and daughter) performed the first two acts of the show, and were finally “unleashed for a shattering third act” (Time Out Chicago). Capitalizing on the site specific staging along the wall of a former macaroni factory, fully functioning windows opened onto the summer nights of the streets of Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, ending with Lorraine perilously perched on the window ledge, suspended only by the lilting tones of Judy Garland. Punctuated by the songs of Romanian folk singer Maria Tanase in collision with American pop star Katy Perry and The Wizard of Oz soundtrack, this radical interpretation also featured 10 year old child actor Tougne carrying a grandfather clock in the role of the Old Man. The Misunderstanding was hailed by Chicago Critic as, “in search of a new paradigm for what is considered acceptable theater in America.”
Photo Credit: Devron Enarson
