It seems almost a premise borne of a party game: If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose? Smell? Taste? Sight? Hearing? Touch? What if you had to lose two? Three? What if you lost all of your senses?
This is the starting point for Adam Bock’s A Small Fire, opening November 16 as Falcon Theatre’s second production of its 2018-2019 season. But far from being a story about a mysterious disease that robs its victim of her senses, the play, says The New York Times, is “raucous, funny, and unexpectedly touching, as we are made intimate witnesses to a frank demonstration of how much of life, of love, and of happiness remain within reach even when so much appears to be lost.”
Falcon Artistic Director (and director for this production) Ted J. Weil says that “the true beauty of the show is the sense of hope that the playwright manages to cobble together in the midst of turmoil.”
The audience is introduced to Emily Bridges, a tough, no-nonsense career woman who is far more comfortable wearing a hardhat and talking trash with the men of the construction company that she has built from the ground up than wearing an apron and making dinner for her husband and daughter.
But Emily’s world is upended when a potential disaster is narrowly averted. Because of a sudden inability to smell the smoke from the beginnings of a smoldering kitchen fire that she has inadvertently started, Emily quickly realizes that she can no longer smell anything. As the story progresses, Emily loses her ability to taste…to see…to hear. Plunged into a world in which she can communicate only by touch, she becomes reliant on her longtime husband whose endless devotions she had always taken for granted.
Weil says that A Small Fire is “a beautiful piece of theater that deals with loss, redemption, and the wondrous things we often discover in the aftermath of tragic events.”
The production features Kristy Rucker as Emily, Terry Gosdin as John, Victoria Hawley as Jenny, and Evan Blanton as Billy. Performances are at 8 p.m. on November 16, 17, 23, 24, 29, 30, and December 1, 2018. Tickets prices are $25 for adults and $15 for students with ID. Patrons enjoy a $5 discount for Thursday performances. Visit falcontheater.net for tickets and more information.
Falcon Theatre is located at 636 Monmouth Street in the Monmouth Street Historic District of Newport.
Falcon Theatre
