Strangers and Linguish
By Edward Einhorn
Directed by Edward Einhorn
ORIGINALLY PERFORMED:
January 2006
at Theater 5 in New York
Part of the NEUROfest
Linguish posits a disease which causes aphasia, the neurological disorder that takes away one's ability to use language. Four relative strangers are among the first to be affected, and are thrown together in quarantine. As the disease affects them, they are forced to try to find new ways to communicate. In Strangers a man and a woman are in what seems to be a waiting room. Is it a doctor's waiting room? If so, what's wrong?
Cast:
Peter Bean*
Josephine Cashman*
Uma Incrocci*
Nancy Nagrant
Ken Simon
Maxwell Zener
*Member of Actors Equity Association
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Original Music: William Niederkorn
Set/Lighting Design: Alex Senchak
Costume Designer: Carla Gant
Stage Manager: Courtney Sweeting
Assistant Stage Manager: Jodi Lynn Katz
OTHER PRODUCTIONS:
Strangers & Linguish was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's Annual conference in Chicago, IL in March 2007. The cast and crew were the same as above.
Linguish was originally presented at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center as part of the New York International Fringe Festival in August 1997 with the following cast and production team:
Director: Alexander Harrington
Producer: David A. Einhorn
Stage Manager: Molly Hunt
Man: Peter Brown
Sandy: Jennifer Chudy
John: Dominic Cuskern
Michael: Christopher Gabriel
Beth: Erin Kelley
Artwork by R. Keith Rugg
Reviews
“The first part, a two-hander pregnant with Pinter-esque pauses, manages to convey the numbing repetitiveness and frustration of life with an amnesiac. The second, an inspired absurdist comedy, follows four strangers infected with a mysterious form of aphasia who are quarantined in a No Exit bunker. Literally at a loss for words, they must invent a new language in order to communicate—or to keep from going crazy. Side effects may include hilarity, we are told (it's definitely contagious).”
— The Village Voice
"Touching, stark, and entirely unsentimental, Strangers is a smart, mature, highly effective one-act drama. Peter Bean gives one of his trademark excellent performances...Nancy Nagrant does excellent work as Sylvia, serving as both our guide into Richard's muddied consciousness as well as our surrogate...Josephine Cashman is luminous and warm as a psychologist...Both plays are neatly staged by Einhorn and feature effective production values"
— nytheatre.com
"The dialogue is a slow burn of wit, un-canniness, seduction, and just the right amount of heart-wrenching...[Peter Bean] possesses an unsettling, calm-before-the-storm quality, as well as a muted sensuality, that makes him a fun and unpredictable fixation. If the other offerings of NEUROfest are as novel and cerebral as Strangers and Linguish, one might be obligated to make repeat visits."