Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Uncategorized The Extremists disarms weapons of mass distraction
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 5:45 PM
The audience never tunes out while watching The Extremists at 7 Stages. At first we sit back and laugh at the doublespeak as CJ Hopkins' media satire takes potshots at some easy targets. By the end, we find ourselves squirming as if we're the ones in the hot seat, mentally justifying our own choices and behaviors. After a stealthy first half, the production confronts the viewers like it's a merciless Jon Stewart and we're a hapless Jim Cramer.
In part, the play forces its spectators to wonder why they watch news and opinion shows such as "Nightline," "The O'Reilly Factor," "The Daily Show" or "Issues in Focus." Instead of consuming news to be informed or find fresh perspectives, The Extremists suggests people merely want confirmation of their already held beliefs, only with more authority and snap. At times The Extremists proves a bit too proud of its own cleverness, but it succeeds at forcing the audience to examine itself. Most theater falls short of that goal, while most television never even makes the attempt.
7 Stages produced The Extremists with Atlanta's PushPush Theater and Germany's English Theatre Berlin, where the company just staged the play's world premiere. The bare performance space, squared off with footlights, evokes a boxing ring or an avant-garde cabaret more than a cable television studio. Nonetheless, it's the venue for the weekly show "Issues in Focus." Dick Hedgerow (PushPush co-aristic director Tim Habeger) plays host to expert Norm Krieger (7 Stages artistic director Del Hamilton), a resident at the Orwellian-titled Center for Advanced Strategic Studies that focuses on the threat of extremism in the world today.
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