Raven Theatre’s timely ‘Beast on the Moon’ a poignant reminder of Armenian genocide

SHARE Raven Theatre’s timely ‘Beast on the Moon’ a poignant reminder of Armenian genocide

The timing, as well as the patrimony, could hardly be more ideal.

Raven Theatre’s production of Richard Kalinoski’s play, “Beast on the Moon,” has arrived on stage at the very moment the world is being reminded of the 100th anniversary of the start of what has become known as the Armenian genocide. And not only does it tell a poignant story of two young survivors of that horrific massacre — which occurred when an already flailing Ottoman government embarked on a horrific campaign against its Armenian population that resulted in the death of 1.5 million people. But the play has been directed by Raven’s founder and artistic director, Michael Menendian (a first generation Armenian-American), and its central role of Seta is being played by his beguiling daughter, actress Sophia Menendian (whose mother, JoAnn Montemurro, is the company’s co-artistic director).

‘BEAST ON THE MOON’

Recommended

When: Through June 6

Where: Raven Theater, 6157 N. Clark

Tickets: $36

Info: (773)338-2177; www.raventheatre.com

Run time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, with one intermission

Set between 1921 and 1933, “Beast on the Moon” begins with Seta’s arrival in Milwaukee as the mail-order bride of Aram Tomasian (Matt Browning). She is just 15, and was contacted through an orphanage in Turkey where she landed after her parents were murdered and her older sister sacrificed herself to prevent her from being raped. Seta, who clutches a cloth doll, is wide-eyed and awed by the fortuitous change in her circumstances. But she is not at all prepared for the subservience and sense of  “duty” her Bible-thumping husband — whose own family also was murdered in the genocide — believes he is entitled to. And she certainly is not ready for sex and procreation with a man who is a total stranger.

Aram is not a bad man. The son of Armenians who lived a conservative rural life, he is trying to live up to the model of his father. A young striver, he works as a professional photographer, and is hell-bent on realizing what he perceives as the American dream. Seta, on the other hand, was raised in a sophisticated urban family. And while she has seen much carnage, she has a very different sort of life force, and seems to have absorbed some sense of her mother’s life as an independent woman.

Seta submits to sex with her husband (the scenes are offstage, but evocative), but it is joyless. And her inability to become pregnant causes immense tension in the household since Aram’s most ferocious goal is to re-create the family he lost. Gradually, the adventurous Seta makes her way into the neighborhood, becomes friends with an immigrant Italian woman who finds success selling ice cream and who eventually sells Seta’s excellent chocolate cakes, too.

Along the way, Seta also befriends homeless street kids. One in particular — feisty little Vincent (Aaron Lamm) — captures her heart and eventually forces the couple to face certain realities they have been unable to confront, including their very different personalities and responses to the traumas of their past.

Ron Quade (far left), Aaron Lamm and Sophia Menendian in the Raven Theatre production of “Beast on the Moon.” (Photo: Dan La Prairie)

Ron Quade (far left), Aaron Lamm and Sophia Menendian in the Raven Theatre production of “Beast on the Moon.” (Photo: Dan La Prairie)

Sophia Menendian, a petite, dark-haired beauty with a luminous spirit, gives a beautiful performance that is most notable for the way it suggests her character’s shift from the girl of the first act to the woman of the second act. And while she captures Seta’s sadness, she also winningly taps into the play’s brief moments of comedy, too. Aram’s rigidity makes Browning’s task of finding the man’s humanity a difficult one, but the actor certainly makes you feel his character’s inner anguish.

The narrator and “witness” to this story is an older gentleman not unlike the lawyer character in Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge,” and Ron Quade brings the perfect tone and wisdom to his portrayal. Lamm (who starred earlier this season in the Profiles Theatre production of David Mamet’s “The Cryptogram”) is sassy and bright, but Kalinoski’s writing for him sounds far too much like the author’s voice rather than a child’s.

That aside, “Beast on the Moon,” which has been produced in 17 countries and 12 languages since its debut in 1995, grabs hold of your heart. And at a time when political upheavals and resulting mass migrations have become major phenomena worldwide, it serves as a revealing picture of the inner lives of scarred but determined survivors.

The fine design team includes Kristin Abhalter (sets), Mary O’Dowd (props), Diane Fairchild (lighting), Lauren Roark (costumes), and Leif Olsen (original music), with an artful use of archival film footage and photographs supplying a crucial bit of history at the start.

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