"McCallum’s beautifully calibrated staging is so intimate it seems to implicate you in its themes...Intimacy compensates to some degree for a slightly abstract quality in ‘Lewiston’...’Clarkston’ is the richer drama, with themes that are more tightly bound to characters and a plot both surprising and inevitable..Hunter’s golden diptych, no less than McCallum’s spectacularly unspectacular production, suggests that small rewards may be the only kind available.”
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"Hunter’s smart, sad, inquisitive plays rest somewhere between Jake’s tentative sense of wonder, Alice’s wry weariness, and Chris’s flat skepticism...They need one another — 'Lewiston' especially needs 'Clarkston,' which is tightly crafted, tender, and at times devastating, while its preceding play feels more nascent, as if Hunter’s still finding his way...Exposed is how both production and audience feel, and that’s as it should be."
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“Theater rarely gets more physically and emotionally intimate...‘Lewiston/Clarkston’ is chamber theater of the most deeply moving kind...‘Lewiston’ benefits greatly from the excellent performances...’Clarkston’ deftly works in elements related to Lewis and Clark with discussions about the explorers' historical legacy...McCallum's superb staging makes excellent use of the versatile space...You'll have a palpable sense of having shared something special with your fellow theatergoers."
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"For the daring theatrical explorers among us, 'Lewiston/Clarkston,' directed by Davis McCallum, is obviously a must-see. Marathon evenings like this aren't a frequent occurrence...The actors are practically on top of us, but not in a confrontational way...The introspective silences often speak louder than the words...'Clarkston' is far better, a satisfying entree that features three excellent performances...As noble an experiment as America itself, and just as imperfect."
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"Unequally compelling dramas...'Lewiston' tries to cram too much into ninety minutes, with awkward results...It helps enormously that 'Clarkston' has an ending that, for all its ambiguities, offers at least the possibility of peace for some of the characters...Even marked by a certain up-and-down quality, 'Lewiston/Clarkston' is filled with good performances, and Hunter's ability to mine drama out the lives and conditions of his corner of the Northwest remains unique."
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“An exceedingly special and highly unconventional theatrical event. Small in scale—like the work of a miniaturist—but major in scope, Hunter’s impressive opus features a tiny cast, working almost literally in your laps and giving massively powerful performances...The two plays are altogether different...The plays are exceptionally insightful...The performances brought forth from the actors by McCallum are each and every one exquisite.”
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“A riveting, haunting two-part play...Under McCallum’s intuitive, compassionate direction, the actors give performances of startling emotional transparency...We are reminded, in both plays that both that historic mission and its leaders were flawed, by factors ranging from imperialism to personal demons. Hunter isn’t preaching about the inherent corruption of powerful nations or their heroes; it’s human fallibility in the context of larger social forces that intrigues and moves him."
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“’Lewiston and Clarkston’ were always meant to be performed together...They offer windows onto our struggles with the burdens of history...’Lewiston’ is a story about ghosts...The conflict in this play draws more on what has happened in the past rather than anything we actually witness...’Clarkston’ ultimately steals the show with its wrenching portrait of lives coming undone...The performances are vulnerable and utterly convincing.”
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