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July 1, 2009

Energetic evening in store

By STEVEN HOWELL

MONTREAL — Think you know who you are?

Playwright Mike Czuba (pronounced chuba) aims to change a few perceptions on life, love and relationships with his new play "I Am I," which debuts next week at Montreal's Players' Theatre.

"It's a different kind of show," Czuba said. "It doesn't necessarily have a standard narrative. But it's not anything too experimental."

But it is full of pertinent credentials: Czuba is a mature-student Master's graduate from Montreal's prestigious theater program at Concordia University.

"The way I've been writing lately has been very much about human connection and the day-to-day stuff we think, we feel, we push aside, and what we don't articulate out loud," Czuba said. "A lot of it basically grows out of romantic situations."

Czuba, who says he "pushing 40," feels the work may speak differently to a younger audience.

"Maybe a 20-year-old will say, 'What's the big deal?' But as you get a little older, it's not the same thing," he said. "So it's funny, it's painful, it's squirm-worthy at points."

EXPLOSIVE CREATION
The three main characters of "I Am I" are Sonya, Man 1 and Man 2.

"They're two halfs of the same guy," Czuba said.

As we indeed get older, he said, we grow instincts and preferences.

"What we like, what we don't — we just say them after awhile."

He said characters Man 1 and Man 2 have their own distinctive sides. Man 1 is the sensitive side, the emotional type, while Man 2 is the more visceral, passionate kind of guy.

"And they just stopped talking to each other. The two just don't get along," Czuba said. "But without the other, they don't exist."

"I Am I" plays with theatrical convention, he continued. For example, the characters are also the actors.

"The technical term would be metatheatrical. The play is very aware of itself," Czuba said. "It's a play. We all know it. We're all there. We're watching it. And the actors themselves also know they're in a play."

He said the result is a constant in-and-out banter between who they are and what they're playing.

"It's a reflection of us as people in that we switch identities depending on where we are," Czuba said. "We all act differently if we're with family or friends or colleagues."

"I Am I," which he's also producing under his Dancing Monkey Theatre production company, has been a two-year process. However, the playwright wrote the first draft in six days.

"It was a very explosive nonstop moment of creation," Czuba said. "I had to get this out. It was an immediate reaction to a whole bunch of things. It was one of those moments. Pure subconscious. I had to get out of the way, stop thinking and put it on paper."

He tweaked and rewrote parts over the next year and a half and relished input from the play's director, Larry Lamont, as well as its three stars: Patricia Mckenzie, George Bekiaris and Tristan D. Lalla.

"But always keeping the energy of the original creation," Czuba said. "We compare it to rock 'n' roll."

LIKE A ROCK SHOW
Consider what you're about to see, he suggests, a concert.

"You've got your tickets in hand. You're on your way to the show. The excitement builds."

You can feel the anticipation, he said.

"So as a production, we want to bring that type of energy to a theatrical experience. Often the lights go dim, people get quiet. It's all so passive. We wanted to up that energy. So it's like a rock show in that you sit down and it starts and you don't breathe until it ends."

Czuba will continue his studies and also wants to teach. His previous work, "The Elusive," won the Montreal Mirror's Best Play of 2007-08. As a local Montrealer, he also fondly remembers "many weekends at the beach" in Plattsburgh.

The audience of "I Am I" is in for a most cathartic, energetic evening of theater where those watching may just recognize themselves in the people — actors or characters — on stage, Czuba said.

"As a producer, I am extremely excited with the cast and crew and the work they've done," he said. "And as a writer, I'm really happy to have people see this."

"I Am I" runs July 8 through 24.

Players' Theatre is at 3480 McTavish St., third floor, on the McGill University Campus downtown (Metro station McGill). Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. For reservations, call (514) 369-6954 or e-mail theatredancingmonkey@gmail.com.

View the trailer to "I Am I" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L4CH3DVy4c.

E-mail Steven Howell at: writeonbetty@sympatico.ca

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