“Butterfly,” a new play at Windmill Arts in East Point running Jan. 19 to Feb. 4, centers around the love story between a shallow, celebrity-obsessed socialite and a studied scientist and how they lose and rediscover each other.
Though the take is modern, the story is timeless. Playwright and Director Sam R. Ross adapted the piece from master storyteller Anton Chekhov’s “The Grasshopper.”
“What I found interesting about the play was the tremendous fascination with celebrity,” Ross said. “We are a celebrity-obsessed society. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in that, we don’t realize the beauty and the simplicity in nature, science and reason.”
Courtesy Windmill Arts Productions
Courtesy Windmill Arts Productions
The play finds much of its comedy by satirizing modern culture.
“I’ve constructed a farcical, over-the-top, funny look at our obsession with celebrity in a world of reason,” the playwright said.
In the original story, the social butterfly at the center of the narrative was a naive young woman married to a doctor that she finds boring compared to artists and performers until she realizes his value to society. In “Butterfly,” Pascal Portney plays Zhopa, a striking young man who marries a bookish pathologist named Dostoyna, played by Megan Poole.
“It’s his journey to realize the absurdity of the world he’s obsessed with and the beauty that’s all around him that he didn’t realize because he had his head in a cellphone,” Ross said. “I want people to have fun and laugh at these celebrity-obsessed characters, even ourselves.”
The 80-minute show has no intermission, and it features music, dancing and lots of comedy.
“It’s a fun, quick telling,” Ross said. “The audience comes in. We get them on a train and take them for a ride.”
Courtesy Windmill Art Productions
Courtesy Windmill Art Productions
The show is the first produced by Windmill Arts Productions, a new venture housed at the facility, which Ross owns. The location has been used by other theater and dance companies, particularly Vernal & Sere and Havoc Movement, for workshops and performances.
Many in the cast of “Butterfly” trained with Vernal & Sere to be able to do challenging, physical theater. Ross, who founded the Vanguard Repertory Theatre troupe in Los Angeles, appeared in the Vernal & Sere play “Hurricane Season.”
“I’m blessed to have a pool of people that I’ve watched for the last four years who I could just approach and ask if they wanted to be in my play,” he said. “The work we do is physically based. It’s demanding and precise if it works right.”
Though the notion of Russian literature might seem intimidating to some, audiences are expected to connect easily with “Butterfly.”
“It doesn’t try to feel Chekhovian at all,” Ross said. “It’s not one of those plays that needs to be endured.”
Courtesy Windmill Arts Productions
Courtesy Windmill Arts Productions
Preparing the show has been a delight, he said.
“It’s a comedy show,” Ross said. “You will come and laugh — have fun. The language is accessible. The story is accessible. You will understand it.”
THEATER PREVIEW
“Butterfly”
Presented by Windmill Arts Productions. Jan. 19-Feb. 4. $25. Windmill Arts, 2823 Church St., East Point. www.windmillarts.org.
ArtsATL
ArtsATL
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ArtsATL (www.artsatl.org), is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. Founded in 2009, ArtsATL’s goal is to help build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
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