Lungs
Produced by Mac Welch and Emily Bernet
It might surprise you (and it might not) to know that I might be the quickest person to abandon a book, the least apologetic to toss a script aside, and the worst person to sit next to in front of a television screen. I can appreciate many stories, genres, perspectives; I recognize that there's an audience for everything and I will watch any work through the author's or director's lens. But ask me about my own personal taste in storytelling and you'll find that I'm extremely, extremely picky. It's just how the good Lord made me. I want to be surprised and have all of my expectations thrown out. I need something different. I need it to speak.
Duncan Macmillan is new to my repertoire of playwrights, but I find his writing intriguing, his plot structure refreshingly compelling and his speech perceptibly clear. Put simply, Macmillan's Lungs is a conversation; a ninety-minute exchange of words in which two people, very much in-love ask themselves, "Is it time to have a baby?" And, although the story centers around this over-arching question, that's not the conversation Macmillan is having with us. "In this environment, can you breathe?" is the question he's posed to his audience. Having experienced this production and based on what I've gathered about the script, I've found that Macmillan has manipulated the mechanics of what we know as a traditional piece of dramatic literature. There are no scene changes, no breaks between Act 1 and Act 2--actually, there is no Act 1 nor Act 2, there are no set pieces moving on/off the stage between moments, no props, no pantomime, no costume changes, no lighting cues and no sound cues. It just is. He's changed the way in which the narrative is told, stripped away the showboating of "the spectacular" that we've all grown so accustomed to in our Broadway era and given us space to breathe it in. And it's beautiful. This is the simplicity I long for.
Utilizing Dallas' Elevator Project, Director Mac Welch and Movement Director Emily Bernet have self-produced Lungs in the quaint Wyly Studio Theater at AT&T Performing Arts Center. Welch and Bernet have taken this conversation even further, making way for alternating pace and creative, stylistic movement. The play begins as if we've entered during the height of a couple's deep conversation. Strategically named M (Thomas Magee) and W (Alyssa Carrasco,) these characters could be anyone. Any gender. Any child-bearing age. Any mix of race (for they are a bi-racial couple, we learn.) They never call one another by first or last name, so these characters represent almost everyone. They are me. They are you. And you will completely fall in-love with them. The chemistry that Magee and Carrasco bring to these characters is authentically powerful; at times gut-wrenching as they cling to the tenderness and affection that M and W clearly have for one another. I am still reeling about this play a full day later and wish, more than ever, that I could see it again.
Over the last few years, I've become more acquainted with Mac Welch, and more recently with Emily Bernet, so I'm not surprised by the brevity of this work. If there's one thing that I've grown to truly appreciate about Welch and his work in particular, it's that he takes risks, and he takes them in good taste. In Theatre, Dance, and any Art, it's not just about getting from point A to point B, it's about how you nurture that journey. That process is where the art, the conversations and the connections begin to take shape. With any play in which he produces, directs or performs, he's always listening closely to the writer's perspective with strong conviction, approaching it with respectable humility, and then taking the leap with his own interpretation.
This is the part where I say, "I urge you to see this production!" and "You don't want to miss it!" All very true, in this case, indeed. But, if you want to be part of this conversation, you're going to have to jump in. This is your invitation. Access it here: Mac Welch - Lungs by Duncan Macmillan - AT&T Performing Arts Center
Enjoy!
Natalie
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