"Cold/Tender" opens at Boston Court

By Martin S. Gonzalez Staff Writer

Syndicated in U-Entertainment to several newspapers throughout SoCal

From early readings that began in her own living room, director Jessica Kubzansky is proud to finally bring the play "Cold/Tender," written Cody Henderson to the stage. Also a co-artistic director of The Theatre at Boston Court in Pasadena, Kubzansky will direct the world premiere of the play, which opens Boston Court's first season tonight.

"It's a rich, astonishing piece of theater about humanity," said Kubzansky. "Since our days at Cal Arts I have thought Cody was a tremendous writer. This is a play that Cody and I have worked on for three years."

"Cold/Tender" follows the journey of a single dollar as it traverses through time and space from 1962 through 2004. The journey links three Cold War crises that serve as the background for what are tenderly conceived and intimate portraits of human relationships.

The germination of the play began after Henderson, lacking paper, decided to write an idea down on a dollar bill. He quickly began wondering who would later see the note and what they would think.

"It really just became a theatrical convention to tell the stories that I would later develop," Henderson said.

What developed were three intertwined stories that revolve around the theme of fear. In one tale, three Miami teenagers invent games of love and sex in a bomb shelter on the eve of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. In another, a Ukrainian-born couple struggles through a day of work at a Napa Valley health spa on the morning after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The final story involves three Americans, a man, his fiancee and his female friend vacationing in Cuba today and discovering pain, passion and paradox both in the land and each other.

"Cody has created beautifully articulated, flawed human beings," Kubzansky said. "What I absolutely adore about the play is that it takes world crises as a frame and then makes the story within them incredibly small and human, which is probably how most of us experience life."

"The Cuban Missile crisis story came out of my own personal fears when I was younger of nuclear apocalypse. It was something I really needed to talk about. So I began thinking of other events to set these stories against. But the large scale issues are just a backdrop for me. How people personally respond to these these events and their relationships are always more interesting to me," Henderson said.

Kubzansky, who just finished directing Bryan Davidson's "War Music" at the Geffen Playhouse does not shy away from acknowledging the play's political content and relevance, especially now in our current time of crisis, but she does not consider "Cold/Tender" a political play.

"The play obviously has some political content, given the events it's framed around, but in the way of most of my favorite plays, I would not call it a political play, which are dry and pedantic. Human beings are both profoundly affected by world events, and they sometimes are so big, they cannot comprehend them for more than seconds at a time in that way.

"The attacks on 9-11 were stunning, horrifying and unbearable, and unless you are one of the people who lost an immediate loved one, people very quickly slip back into their very personal endeavors, because the comprehension of the atrocity is so huge, it's unthinkable. In that same way, this play addresses that part of our humanity," Kubzansky said. "I think that's how most of us experience life, unless we're in a combat situation. This play is incredibly relevant to our world today. Our country is currently living in profoundly uneasy times. In our own way, we are living through our own kind of Cuban Missile Crisis."

Martin S. Gonzalez can be reached at (626) 962-8811 Ext. 2734 or by e-mail at martin.gonzalez@sgvn.com.

INFO: The Theatre at Boston Court 70 N. Mentor at Boston Court, Pasadena (626) 683-6883 8 p.m. Thursday - Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sunday; through May 2 $25-$30

LA WEEKLY – “Pick of the Week” by Amy Nicolson

COLD/TENDER Jessica Kubzansky stylishly directs a highly adept ensemble through Cody Henderson’s time-bending saga, a dreamscape involving three sets of characters, and the lucky dollar bill they shuttle through four decades. 1962 finds two school girls, pictureperfect housewife-in-training Rhonda (Amanda Troop) and the abrasively awkward San Francisco (Mandy Freund), in a bomb shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis, mulling over a cryptic message on the greenback left behind from Rhonda’s ill-suited beau, Wesley (Jonathan McClain). Forty-two years later, Dan (Hugo Armstrong) presses the same bill into his ultra-P.C. fiancée’s (Casey Siegenfeld) hand as a good luck talisman for their portentous Cuban vacation, as his best friend, Kate (Ashley West Leonard), watches with reservations of her own. Between the two is an underdeveloped storyline serving mostly as a thematic waystation: A Ukrainian couple (Alex Veadov and Ann Stocking) in 1986 Calistoga fret over their relatives outside Chernobyl, while putting on a brave front for the pampered clientele of their health spa. Though the Cold War plays in each tale, the real interest comes from watching Henderson’s authenically detailed characters reevaluating their own American dreams against the dream represented by George Washington’s appraising mug. To some, the dollar represents optimism, for others it’s a harbinger of heartbreak, a self-serving gift, or just an overhyped piece of paper. Sound, set, light and costume designs — by Steve Goodie, Susan Gratch, Jeremy Pivnick and Elizabeth Palmer, respectively — are superb. Theater@Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 2. (626) 683-6883. Written 04/01/2004 (Amy Nicholson)

ENTERTAINMENT TODAY, 4/30/04

TICKETHOLDERS

by Travis Michael Holder

Cold/Tender

The Theatre @ Boston Court

A dollar bill is passed between three decades in the premiere of Cody Henderson’s Cold/Tender at LA’s stunning new jewelbox of the theatre, the Boston Court. The single dollar, inscribed with random messages, somehow defines the lives of the people it touches. And as it moves from hand to hand, it becomes obvious that the cataclysmic world events which surround the three eras it survives have a definite effect upon the personal lives of the inhabitants of this drama.

The people we meet include a group of carnally curious teenagers (Amanda Troop, Mandy Freund and Johnathan McClain) residing in Miami in 1962, holed up in a fallout shelter where the possibility of complete global annihilation encourages them to explore their sexuality with heightened abandon. It is next is encased under glass at a health spa in Calistoga in 1986, where the Russian couple (Ann Stocking and Alex Veadov) who have worked so hard to build their business agonize about the fate of the daughter they left behind, caught in the horror of Chernobyl. It finally ends up in the possession of betrothed young lovers (Casey Siegenfeld and Hugo Armstrong) visiting poverty-stricken Havana in our current times with their friend (Ashley West Leonard), a vacation where they realize their sensibilities might be less in tune than they had previously thought.

The acting is uniformly sensational, especially Freund as the quirky San Francisco, a potential free spirit trapped in teenaged angst; McClain as the shallow young man she “explores” and who later turns up as an even more despicable adult wallowing in the mudbaths of the Russians’ spa; and Stocking as the grieving wife he approaches with inappropriate requests.

Uber-director Jessica Kubzansky’s staging is crisp and sharply focused, bringing a keen understanding for this material which she has long championed. Henderson’s script, though quick-witted, infinitely clever, and filled with enormous promise, is sometimes meandering and a tad confusing, though nothing a little future reworking won’t solidify. The spot-on relationships he creates between his characters have a life of their own, as does the subtle statements he makes about how politics fuck with human emotional development and the ability to relate to others around us. The simple and classy set and video designs by Susan Gratch are most impressive, as are Jeremy Pivnik’s moody lighting and a knockout sound design by Steve Goodie.

Cold/Tender marks the beginning of a brave inaugural season for this incredible new arts complex where taking chances is the cornerstone, a place so energized by the talent assembled here under one roof that an artist might even be glad to be stuck in the cultural wasteland of LaLaLand after all. For tickets, call (626) 683-6883.

"cold/tender " the theatre@boston court pasadena, ca 01 april 04 reviewed by mark jonas

"You are part of an experiment," a soothing female voice tells us. Her words appear on a digital video display above the bare stage. She instructs us to look in our wallets and find a dollar bill. "If you do not have one, there is one under your seat." Sure enough, we find a black #10 envelope containing a $1 bill and a felt-tip pen. In the next three minutes, we study our bucks as the sweet, vaguely sinister voice speaks lovingly of the numerology and symbolism of the Yankee dollar, and how the American greenback is wonderful and admired around the world.

Next, she asks us to write something on the bill: a statement we'd like to make. As we write, we realize the gravity of what we're doing: someone in Iraq or Russia or Indonesia may hold this bill someday, and read a message to the world from America. What will we say?

It's a profound start to a profound evening. The play that follows also concerns the journey of a dollar bill: it's Cody Henderson's "Cold/Tender", a piercing, affecting new work about Americans, their privilege, and their disengagement from the world. You'll find it at a really special new venue, the Theatre@Boston Court in Pasadena.

"Cold/Tender" starts in 2004, as three well-educated New Yorkers take a vacation to newly sexy, now-available Cuba. Kate and Dan work for a news agency, and Dan is in love with Julie, who has worked in disadvantaged countries as a volunteer. They're staying at a resort where Sinatra once stayed -- a little down at the mouth, but still sufficiently cigar-and-martini. Julie and Kate want to leave the hotel and visit the real Havana: the slums, the heart of the city. Dan would rather stick to the grounds and wear expensive linen shirts and drink mojitos by the pool.

Dan does take one chance. He asks Julie to marry him. But there's a problem: not only do Dan and Julie see the world differently, Kate is more than Dan's old friend. They had a "terror fuck" in the days after 9/11, and Dan can't let the possibility of her love go. And what about the worn, tiny wallet photo he carries of a young girl?

We transition to suburban Miami, 1962. We meet another trio of affluent Americans: three teenagers named Rhonda, France, and Wesley. Rhonda's dad designs bomb shelters; France's parents are socialists, and she is uncool and has a bad habit of memorizing dictionary pages so she can use obscure words. Wesley is the boy they're both hot for, a clean-cut JFK type who fears for his life as the Cuban Missile Crisis rears its head. As bobby-soxers hear Bob Dylan, new romantic chances emerge.

The third plot thread takes us to Calistoga, California in 1986. Vlad and his wife Sasha are Ukrainian immigrants; they've taken over a second-rate spa in the Napa Valley. We meet two customers at their mud baths: Dan, who back in 1986 was a young free spirit, and Wesley, by 1986 a tired, xenophobic businessman. There's a disaster in Chernobyl, and Vlad and Sasha have a daughter in Kiev, less than 100 miles away. Sasha is worried sick; maybe she could get her daughter safe passage to America by showing her picture to the kind young American named Dan. He's their friend; maybe he would take a chance.

All three stories are deftly directed by Jessica Kubzansky. Hugo Armstrong does wonderful work as Dan, whether he's naked in an onstage mud pit or fully clothed and fully intimate with the two women he loves. With his tall, gentle manner, he creates a character we really root for: a man trying to lose his fear and be brave again. Three women stand out in the cast: Ashley West Leonard as Kate, Casey Siegenfeld as Julie and especially Mandy Freund as France, who never lets her character's considerable quirks substitute for strength.

*******

Before the lights went down, the mysterious female voice asked each audience member to get up, leave their seat, and exchange their inscribed dollar bill with a person they had not yet met. A robust, smiling young woman walked forward and handed me her dollar; it was Jessica Kubzansky, easily recognizable from a recent Los Angeles Times article. My message to her: "Love peace." Her message to me: "Go all the way to land's end." Kubzansky and the cast had done just that, and so had Henderson. I thought about his play all the way home.

And as I drove, I was haunted by the image he left me: a dollar bill passing through the slums of Havana, bearing two inscriptions. A young American, full of postwar privilege and optimism, had written: "Take a chance." And a Russian woman, distraught and desperate, had written to a faraway daughter: "Use to buy a loaf of bread." "Cold/Tender", Thu-Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 3pm thru May 2 at the Theatre@Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. $25-30. 626.683.6883. Copyright © 2004 by theater2k.com. All rights reserved.

(Excerpted)

The almighty dollar's currency

Cody's Henderson's world premiere play "Cold/Tender" launches the first full season at the handsome new Boston Court facility in Pasadena. Directed by the theater's co-artistic director, Jessica Kubzansky, Henderson's stylized and sprawling show traces the progression of a single dollar bill through the decades in an attempt to say something profound about American "empire," Third World suffering and the creeping downside of the capitalist system…

Susan Gratch's minimalist scenic design delineates the play's diverse locales, which include present-day Havana, where journalist Dan Baines (Hugo Armstrong) is vacationing with his hyperliberal girlfriend Julie (Casey Siegenfeld) and his gal pal Kate (Ashley West Leonard). Seen in 1962 Miami, three teens — gawky and cerebral San Francisco (Mandy Freund), her precociously sexy best friend Rhonda (Amanda Troop), and their mutual admirer Wesley (Johnathan McClain) — take refuge in a bomb shelter while the Cuban Missile Crisis rages. In the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Russian immigrants Vlad (Alex Veadov) and wife Sasha (Ann Stocking) minister to their clients at an upscale California spa while waiting to hear if their relatives near the meltdown site are alive or dead.

Kubzansky's staging is characteristically crisp and the actors are terrific…

--F.K.F.

"Cold/Tender," the Theatre @ Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends May 2. $25-$30. (626) 683-6883. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

(Excerpted)

Posted: Wed., Mar. 31, 2004, 9:01pm PT Cold/Tender (The Theater at Boston Court; 99 seats; $30.00 Top) A Theater @ Boston Court production of a play in two acts by Cody Henderson.

Directed by Jessica Kubzansky.

Dan Baines - Hugo Armstrong

Julie - Casey Siegenfeld

Kate - Ashley West Leonard

San Francisco - Mandy Freund

Rhonda - Amanda Troop

Wesley Liddel - Johnathan McClain

Vlad - Alex Veadov

Sasha - Ann Stocking

By JOEL HIRSCHHORN "Cold/Tender," Cody Henderson's world premiere play that opens the Theater @ Boston Court's new season, is an ambitious work that tries to humanize reactions to the Cuban missile crisis, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the poverty and pain of Cuban citizens under Castro…

Director Jessica Kubzansky seeks to link the episodes through use of a single dollar bill that falls, at different times, into the hands of her protagonists. Susan Gratch's video design, flashing information about the symbolic features of the bill, is expertly done…

Henderson's plot starts in 2004 Havana when vacationing journalist Dan (Hugo Armstrong) proposes to girlfriend Julie (Casey Siegenfeld) as their friend Kate (Ashley West Leonard), who once had an affair with Dan, looks on disapprovingly. This triangular undercurrent poses a looming danger to the Dan-Julie relationship, but the crucial storm cloud is Dan's insistence on hanging out at the hotel and blinding himself to the bitter realities of Cuban poverty, while Julie wants to mingle with deprived citizens and face their agony.

…Armstrong… is a strong actor, and he brings strength to Dan's anxieties. He even pulls off the complexities of being shown as a villain, then revealed as a socially conscious hero…

As a panicky 1962 teenager facing the Cuban missile crisis, Mandy Freund contributes the show's outstanding female portrayal. She has an imaginatively written role and gives her lines an eccentric, amusing twist. Even during an awkward, maddeningly overlong scene with friend Rhonda (Amanda Troop), in which the two girls discuss sex, Troop demonstrates the spark of a natural comedienne.

Equally winning is Johnathan McClain as Wesley, the boy they both find attractive. McClain also energizes a tautly directed 1986 Napa Valley sequence, confessing his loneliness and family misery to Ukrainian-born masseuse Sasha (Ann Stocking)…

Sets, Susan Gratch; lighting, Jeremy Pivnick; costumes, Elizabeth Palmer; sound, Steve Goodie; stage manager, Katie Ailinger. Opened and reviewed March 27, 2004; runs through May 2. Running time: 2 HOURS, 20 MIN.

"Cold/Tender" presented by and at The Theatre@ Boston Court, 70 North Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Mar. 27-May 2. $25-30. (626) 683-6883. West Southern CA March 31, 2004

Cold/Tender Reviewed By Les Spindle

The "cold" in the title suggests cold war, and "cold" and "tender" are the flip sides of our feelings as we struggle with the scary prospect of making emotional connections. So it goes in Cody Henderson's … new work, in which love and politics are not so much strange bedfellows as counterparts in a metaphysical universe that unleashes serendipitous currents of healing energy. Pedigreed director Jessica Kubzansky and a talented ensemble … find dramatic value in this well-intended … play.

The three stories are set at crisis points in our political history, as apocalyptic visions of impending doom underscore personal rites of passage. In Miami, Fla., in 1962, on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis, three teenagers explore their sexual curiosities, interrupting their adolescent charade long enough to take refuge in an underground bomb shelter. In Calistoga, Calif., in 1986, following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia, the Ukrainian-born owners of a mudbath spa frantically seek news of their relatives back home. And finally, in Havana, Cuba, in present times, three vacationing Americans--a man, his girlfriend, and his close female friend--come to terms with the complexities of their possibly triangular relationships and the plight of the poverty-stricken local citizens; these influences have catalytic effects on the couple's attempt to formalize their union. The action cuts back and forth among these narratives. Kubzansky never allows the frequent switches in time and place to become confusing…

…there are commendable performances. In the Florida scenes, Mandy Freund is wryly funny as a nerdy and smart-mouthed teen who spouts out devil's-advocate rebuttals to virtually everything she hears. Jonathan McClain also amuses as the emotionally fickle young man whom she teases; he appears again in the Calistoga scenes as a spa customer--now an adult but still horny and confused. Hugo Armstrong convincingly conveys the middle-aged angst of the would-be fiance in the Havana segments; his character also appears as a spa customer in the 1986 episodes. Notable work is also turned in by Ashley West Leonard, Casey Siegenfeld, Ann Stocking, Amanda Troop, and Alex Veadov. For the energy-charged high-tech ambience, accolades are due Susan Gratch's scenic and video designs, Elizabeth Palmer's costumes, Jeremy Pivnick's lighting, and Steve Goodie's original music and sound effects.

Henderson sets forth an admirable plea for compassion and calmness in a world fraught with one peril after another…

ACCESSIBLY LIVE OFF-LINE

Pasadena's The Theatre @Boston Court opens their 2004 season with the world premier of Cody Henderson's COLD/TENDER, a tale of a long and interesting journey of a single dollar bill as it travels though three separate stories over a forty plus year time span.

There are actually three separate journeys within this fable. All three have a common thread that the dollar itself just plays a supporting role. In present day Havana, three American tourists taking a vacation in this 'forbidden' country, Dan (Hugo Armstrong), his fiancee Julie (Casey Siegendeld), and Julie's pal Kate (Ashley West Leonard), see how Cuba isfar behind the time thanks to the US embargo of trading for goods. Then there is a group of teenagers living in Miami c.1962 just when the Cuban missile crisis is at its worst. Ronda (Amamda Troop) has her best friend San Francisco (Mandy Freund). Ronda's dad sells underground bomb shelters, so she has access to the family shelter complete with 'civil defense' supplies. The two girls also deal with Wesley Liddel (Jonathan McClain) the resident boy from high school, as well as dealing with the chance of being blown to bits thanks to the 'commies' over in Cuba. Finally, there is the Ukraine couple, Vlad (Alex Veadov) and his wife Sasha (Ann Stocking) who run a mud bath spa in California's Napa Valleyc.1986. Both were from Kiev, not very far from the location of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster just occurred. Though these three groups ofpeople never interact with each other per se, the common bond of a dollar bill, Cuba, and the chance of nuclear death cement all three elements bringing this journey as a cold, strange, and even comical experience!

Jessica Kubzansky directs this tale as one part dramatic, one part humorous, and one part slightly strange. The stage sets and concepts tend to lean toward science fiction (complete with a female voice on the PA system), thanks to the imaginative scenic and video design by Susan Gratch, and property design by JB Hertz.

It's been said that a dollar bill doesn't go as far as it used to. COLD/TENDER goes a long way in terms of writing, concept, and originality! And yes, there is a bit of audience participation involved (sort of!) Just bring a dollar bill along--just in case that piece of paper takes a trip--to somewhere!

COLD/TENDER performs at the Theatre @Boston Court 70 North Mentor Avenue (at Boston Court), Pasadena, until May 2nd. Showtimes are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights @ 8:00 PM, and Sunday matinee @3:00 PM. Reservations and information, call (626) 683-6883. Visit the web site at http://www.bostoncourt.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACCESSIBLY LIVE OFF-LINE (Vol. 9-No. 13-Week of March 29th, 2004)

Syndicated in U-Entertainment to several newspapers throughout SoCal

A dollar goes through time

By Frances Baum Nicholson
Correspondent

Have you ever been handed a dollar bill (or some other denomination) with writing on it? Have you ever wondered how that connected you with another human being in some other circumstance or time? That's the device which holds together "Cold/Tender,'' Cody Henderson's new play at the Boston Court Theatre in Pasadena, which inaugurates its first season.

 Like the "Romeo and Juliet'' which opened the theater mere months ago, this play bodes well for fine theater in its small space.

 The play centers on a single dollar bill, as experienced by different owners in different time periods. The setting jumps back and forth between contemporary Havana and a reporter who has gone there with two women, a spa run by a Russian couple in Calistoga in 1986 (the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident), and three teenagers dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 in and around a home bomb shelter in suburban Miami. As each set of characters grows, the dollar moves on.

 The performances are rich and memorable, though some sequences are stronger than others, and the transitions created by director Jessica Kubzansky and set and video designer Susan Gratch move things forward with humor and seamlessness. In the end, it's a good production of a good play.

 Hugo Armstrong leads the cast as Dan, a reporter whose romance with an international human rights advocate has led him to a vacation in Cuba. All he wants to do is sit by the pool, while Julie, his girlfriend, wants to get to know the people. When she drags his best buddy, Kate, off with her, the transformations of all three of them begin.

 Dan is also the tie to Calistoga, where his friendship with spa owner Vlad makes him a witness to the man and his wife's anguish over their daughter's proximity to the Chernobyl leak. Though this is the weakest of the three sections, it has its moments, as when the demands of a wealthy customer show the Russian couple their subservient status and underscores their helplessness.

 The third section is perhaps the most engaging, as high school aged Rhonda and her somewhat geeky friend San Francisco deal with impending doom and the perplexing complexities of boys, here represented by the rather innocent and judgmental Wesley. Through it all there is the hum of the value of life in ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. There's a lot to chew on, and to celebrate.

 The entire cast proves just about perfect in their parts. Highlights are almost universal, and include Armstrong, whose Dan manages to be laid back without being cavalier, Casey Siegenfeld's Julie Ñ balancing her deep convictions against Dan's strong pull Ñ and Ashley West Leonard as the buddy who isn't sure how she fits in their volatile mix. Amanda Troop gives Rhonda all the blind "present-ness'' of youth, while Mandy Freund gives the intellectual San Francisco a surprisingly attractive logic, and Johnathan McClain gives an earnestness to Wesley even as he condemns him, man and boy, to a world of absolutes.

 Perhaps because most of the drama happens over phones or out of the audience's hearing, Alex Veadov and Ann Stocking have somewhat less success with Vlad and his wife Sasha. Most of what is demanded of them is stoicism or hysteria, and neither allows us emotional or intellectual connection. In the end they seem more of a plot device for the other segments, though the actors play the parts well enough.

Still, "Cold/Tender" this doesn't detract much from the play as a whole. There is even a fun computerized component specifically aimed at those who attend „ an audience participation "testî which gives everyone something to take away from the play. That is, other than the issues the characters raise, which are enough to keep one thinking and discussing over after-show coffee.

-- Frances Baum Nicholson is a free-lance writer based in Altadena. Write to her in care of the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, Features Department, 1210 N. Azusa Canyon Road, West Covina, CA 91790.