New York: The City of Play(wrights)
A writer of plays is no stranger in New York City and NYC is no stranger to playwrights. Being the home of Broadway and the biggest theatre scene in the United States, it makes sense new playwrights live somewhere in the city or at least nearby. One such playwright is Emma Wagner, who wrote the play “Objects in Mirror” for Charging Moose Media’s play reading podcast “At the Table.”
Her story is simply executed, but the ideas and themes she tackles are by no means easy to answer. In today’s media enriched world, you’d be hardpressed to find a creative individual not using at the very least a website for their new releases and other events. The conflict between the artist and the business person has only gotten bigger and more complicated, especially in podcasting.
Art vs Business
The struggle of being both noticed in an evergrowing landscape and making a living off it is becoming harder and harder. “Objects in Mirror” is a play about these competing ideologies. The female character represents the spontaneity of art. The male is the business-minded individual. Neither is right or wrong and you find yourself agreeing with both of them at various points. Something that in a polarizing time is hard to pull off well.
If there’s one thing that makes this play bad it’s the third wheel character. Her job is to give the female character someone to talk to while the male character is gone. He returns shortly after the exchange and then we basically never hear from her again. It’s a short section of dialogue but doesn’t add much depth than a scene with a more economic structure could do, if given the time. We could put the pieces together ourselves.
The ending fizzles out and the podcast turns into a real-world conversation about the cast and crew. It was a bit confusing, as the transition from story to people shooting the breeze is blurry. With such a strong beginning and middle, a luke-warm ending can be forgiven. Especially when tackling such complicated subject matter as art.
4.5/5 Stars
An Aside
The podcast might no longer be active, as their most recent episode published in February 2018. it’s unclear whether they moved their feed or changed their name, perhaps they’re focusing on other creative endeavors.
Next Time
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