When Scar Tissue makes its stage debut, it will mark Dennis Foons second adaptation of Michael Ignatieffs celebrated novel. As the playwright-screenwriter-novelist shares, his reworking the cerebral text into a made-for-television movie a decade ago was hampered by budgetary and production constraints. It never reached its visual potential, he laments. A lot of the image structure and language had to go in order to make it fit that format.
At the end of it, I really felt like Id love another chance to attack the material. In fact, I realized that approaching it in the theatre would actually give me more visual freedom and freedom with language than what I had in a television treatment. He adds, Being in the theatre, you dont need to be nearly as literal.
Scar Tissue is told from the perspective of David (Craig Erickson), whos watching his mother (Gabrielle Rose) be ravaged by Alzheimers. Exploring the issues of memory and identity, the plays frequent chronological shifts are conveyed solely through the actors performances.
The conceit of the play is that its all coming out of Davids mind. So, you need to move at the speed of thought, Foon explains. Whats really cool is that Craig and Gabrielle can play a scene and they can shift from present to the past on a dime. As he becomes a teenager, she becomes her younger self. Its seamless.
When its suggested that Scar Tissues tagline -the triumph of life over loss is a theme that applies to much of Foons writing, he demurs. Im one of those guys who really doesnt think too much about theme, Foon suggests. Im always looking for what catches me emotionally. In the case of Ignatieffs novel, it was the idea of David desperately trying to solve the mysteries of his own youth before his mothers mind is lost forever.
Just as Foon has professed that his youth-oriented Green Thumb Theatre productions helped him synthesize his own childhood, revisiting Scar Tissue a decade later has helped him makes sense of his current experiences. In that period of time, Ive been watching the aging of people I love very much, he explains. One is aging and the other has dementia. In the past 10 years, Ive been directly touched by it. By this very issue. When I first wrote it, I did a lot of research as opposed to being my own subject.
Scar Tissue runs April 5-28 at the Arts Club Revue Stage. $25-$35 from .
