Park Your Car In Harvard Yard
One of the most fascinating things about "live theater" is
How productions of the same play can come across so differently when
acted, directed and interpreted by different people.
Consider "Park Your Car in Harvard Yard,” written in 1984 by
Israel Horovitz. When it opened on Broadway seventeen years ago,
"Harvard Yard" starred Jason Robards and Judith Ivey, whose stellar
performance garnered her a 1992 Tony Award for Best Actress.
We've seen this two-character dramatization twice before. The
first time it was treated as an uplifting comedy, one that presented
the clash between the characters as a light-hearted slice of life.
The second time it was played straightforward as it was written,
which made the differences between the characters more biting and
confrontational.
Now along comes a nuanced production by International City
Theatre which seems to capture the innate tone, pain, and heart-felt
introspection that Horovitz had always intended.
At its essence, "Harvard Yard" is a quiet, low-key, character-
study that probes the preconceived wrongs, deep wounds, and
loneliness of two disparate people in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Under the insightful direction of Hope Alexander, hidden layers
of texture are found in Horovitz's story that are brought to the surface;
even long silences roar through the theater.
Joseph Ruskin plays Jacob Brackish--a retired, 80-year-old Jewish
teacher who taught highschool music and English to students in his
small New England town. Arrogant, taciturn, and set in his ways,
Brackish has just been told that he's terminally ill, but he refuses
to be institutionalized.
Since he's a bachelor who lives alone, he places an ad in the
local paper for a housekeeper. Resigned to his fate, he wants to
spend what time he has left in his home--surrounded by his beloved
record collection and listening to classical music on the radio.
Everything takes place in the teacher’s modest 1950-style house
(beautifully designed by John Iacovelli) after Kathleen Hogan answers
the ad. Joseph Ruskin turns in a splendid performance as the dying
Jacob, but Jacqueline Schultz' portrayal is unbelievable. Schultz
doesn't just act the part of Kathleen, she actually becomes the Irish
Catholic widow in this poignant drama.
As a former student of "the hardest grader in town," Kathleen
wants revenge. She's still smarting because Brackish failed her in
music and English, thereby spoiling her chances of getting a
scholarship to college and escaping her miserable life. Adding salt
to the wound, he also failed her husband, her father, and her mother.
For the next two hours, we watch the interaction of the bitter
Irish Catholic widow and the condemned old Jewish scholar as they
come to know one another and learn each other's secrets.
Like the classical music that fills the house from Brackish's
old-fashioned radio (the playwright himself performs the voice of the
Gloucester radio announcer), the characters dance around each other
in a delicate pas-de-deux.
Each step is carefully measured and calculated as it moves from
awkward stumbling, through an explosive climax, to graceful resolution.
At the heart-felt ending, "Harvard Yard" says as much about the playwright's
fervent hope for humanity as it does about the dying teacher and his former
pupil.
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WHAT: "Park Your Car in Harvard Yard"
WHERE: International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center
WHEN: Thurs-Sat, 8 pm; Sun., 2 pm; through May 25
ADMISSION: $32-$42
INFORMATION: (562)) 436-4610 or www.ictlongbeach.org