Mediating America’s Drama
The search for prophets and answers
 M. Taylor Long |
(6/03/2008) Isaac Klein grew up in the theater community of the East End, performing in shows at Guild Hall in East Hampton, the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, and with Stages! A Children’s Theater Workshop in Southampton. Having received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama from the North Carolina School of the Arts, he has since served as assistant director of Arthur Laurents’s Broadway revival of “Gypsy!” with Patti LuPone, and “Camelot” at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Tomorrow, the 24-year-old, who graduated from East Hampton High School in 2002, will return to Guild Hall to perform in a play he wrote and co-directed. “The Prophecy of Isaiah” is a product of MUDasMAN productions, a company Mr. Klein formed with his friends last year.
“It’s very exciting and a real honor to be bringing a piece that’s so close to my heart back to my hometown to share with my friends and my mentors,” Mr. Klein said on Friday. “That really means a lot to me. It’s a little scary too. That’s a highly esteemed audience for me.”
Mr. Klein is the son of Art Klein and Dava Sobel, the author of “Galileo’s Daughter” and “Longitude,” which won the 1997 British Book of the Year award.
“The Prophecy of Isaiah” is an adaptation of a manuscript written by Mr. Klein’s father, which features his commentary on various social and political issues affecting our country. It incorporates newspaper headlines and quotations from a number of Americans reflecting the rifts in our beliefs.
“He was struggling with what the right things were to do and what he could do about them,” said Mr. Klein, who came to the realization while reading the manuscript that “there was such an interesting conflict between the different types of people he was quoting. I thought, ‘If these quotes were put into perspectives that turned into characters, that conflict would be very interesting to see onstage.’ ”
 M. Taylor Long |
The manuscript was never meant to be anything dramatic. So when Mr. Klein first told his father he wanted to adapt it as a play, “he thought I was crazy. He honestly did not think it was something that was possible. He didn’t see how I was going to do it.”
In April 2007, Mr. Klein directed and performed in the premiere of “The Prophecy of Isaiah” at the Brik Gallery in Catskill, N.Y., where his father now lives. “When he experienced the first production, I think he was very thrilled and happy and proud, and frankly, a bit overwhelmed,” Mr. Klein said.
Through the help of his father and the first cast, the play developed into something dynamic and interesting, he said. “They helped me determine what worked and what didn’t. From the first draft to the first production, the script changed drastically.”
The Boots Lamb Educational Center is an ideal venue for the play, Mr. Klein said. Performed in the round, “there’s some distinction between actor and audience, but when you’re looking around the space, it looks and feels like everyone is included in the experience.”
Mr. Klein plays himself mediating a conversation among four different characters. Topics covered range from the state of poverty in America and the environment, to the acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage.
“I’m truly passionate about using my art and discipline to affect positive change in the world,” Mr. Klein said. “Not just creating art in a void, but creating art that’s relevant and accessible to the world I’m living in and creating. So, to have an opportunity to address issues like this that I do feel are very important is very rewarding for me as an artist.”
 Patricia Feinman |
As the play proceeds, the characters get more and more wrapped up in the intensity of the conversation, “so it becomes less and less like me mediating a discussion, and more and more like a traditional drama,” Mr. Klein said.
“I think one thing that’s great about the piece is that everyone is going to have a different reaction to the material, and everyone’s going to have their own personal perspective on what they’re taking in,” he said. “We never want to do anything to make people feel like their opinion is not okay.”
In addition to Mr. Klein, the cast features Mike Anderson, Dana Acheson, Chance Carroll, and Trevor Vaughn. Unlike in the first two productions, Mr. Klein will not have to direct alone. His friend, Matt Cowart, who is MUDasMAN’s co-artistic director, has joined him. “It’s really wonderful to have his help and insight in the room,” Mr. Klein said. “He’s someone that I trust so fully.”
It is not their primary goal to turn MUDasMAN into something big, but rather have it as an “institution for ourselves, and a flag to wave and march behind in the name of celebrating the work we do together,” Mr. Klein said. He hopes it will allow them to work together in the future.
The company was launched in November 2007, with a festival at the Roy Arias Theater Center in New York City, where it performed the second production of “The Prophecy of Isaiah.”
Apart from MUDasMAN, Mr. Klein will be the assistant director of the upcoming Broadway revival of “West Side Story,” which is scheduled for 2009. He is also directing a play called “Hot Cripple” for the New York French Festival in August.
Tomorrow’s show will start at 8 p.m. There will be performances on Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., Friday, June 13, at 8 p.m., and June 14 at 3 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $10, $8 for Guild Hall members.