1001

By Jason Grote
Rorschach Theatre
May 28-July3, 2009

“Good storytelling is a sort of fearless magic act, in which events move too quickly to tolerate objection. This is certainly how Scheherazade treats her murderous husband, telling her stories with confidence and at the speed of life, heedless of her impending doom. And this is the way that director Randy Baker and the rest of the Rorschach troupe tell this story: with such assurance and commitment that the impossible seems true… Baker has induced excellent performances from his actors – this is the best I have ever seen Wood – and Tuazon and Daugherty are absolutely riveting… Throughout, 1001 is a feast of risky things, done well.” —DC Theatre Scene

“Stories, stories and more stories: They wrap themselves around one another like the strands of a double helix in “1001,” Jason Grote’s urbane, contemporary riff on the tales of the Arabian nights, staged with a pleasing, all-hands-on-deck gusto by Rorschach Theatre…  With a rewarding economy of props — and an evocative array of costumes by Ivania Stack — Baker and his six young actors smoothly propel you through the work’s intricately woven maze… Daugherty and Tuazon and their cast mates bring such discipline and belief to their metamorphosing portrayals that you become immersed in the game of what comes next.” —Washington Post

“Jason Grote’s dreamy, nested-narratives rethink of the Scheherazade fable, which weaves a strain of modern existential angst into the fabric of those ancient tales…. the playwright, and Randy Baker’s very fine Rorschach cast, handle it so gently that what might have felt manipulative feels instead like a graceful act of public mourning… [the production is] a gratifyingly humane way of approaching the impossibly complicated narrative our world makes for itself each day.” – Washington City Paper

Those stories seem timeless, and in the excellent production of Jason Grote’s intellectual yet rambunctious play 1001, currently at Rorschach Theater, those tales become literally timeless, working in an imaginary past as well as an all too familiar contemporary world. –The Sentinel

FEATURING Yasmin Tuazon, Rex Daugherty, Lee Liebeskind, Dylan Myers, Jay Saunders and Abby Wood / DESIGNED BY David C. Ghatan (Set Designer), Ivania Stack (Costume Designer), Brian S. Allard (Lighting Designer), Matthew M. Nielson and Wade Tandy(Sound Designers) and Andrea “Dre” Moore (Props Designer) / STAGE MANAGED BY Julia Harman Cain and Heather Gaither-Greek (Stage Managers) and Hannah Blechman (Asst. Stage Manager) / WITH Casey Kaleba (Fight Choreographer), Michael J. Bobbitt (Dance Choreographer), Hunter Styles (Assistant Director), Dan Iwaniec (Assistant Costume Designer), Meaghan Toohey (Scenic Painter), Justin Keenan Miller (Technical Director) and Robert Brown (Master Electrician)