The Rural We: Chris Noth And Elizabeth Aspenlieder
Noth and Aspenlieder are producing a one-night-only staged reading of Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros."
“There is so much talent in the Berkshires,” says Chris Noth (“Sex and the City,” “The Equalizer,” “The Good Wife” etc. etc.) and Great Barrington resident as often as he can be. All that talent made it possible for Noth, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Shakespeare & Company actor, and Ken Cheseman to put together the stage reading of Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist drama, “Rhinoceros” on Saturday, August 27 at Saint James Place in Great Barrington. The three producers promise some surprise guests —human, beast and other worldly — both during the performance and at intermission. (For those unfamiliar with the iconic modern-classic play, a brief summary is provided at the end of this profile.)
Chris Noth
I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and I was getting close to producing it at the Chichester Festival Theatre in England. Then COVID hit, and people didn’t really want to see Ionesco. It’s been hard to find an American producer. But I did an impromptu reading of the play with Liz and we agreed we wanted to pursue it. There’s such an extraordinarily rich environment here of artists and actors, we thought, let’s use what exists. And Liz is a born producer as well as an actress. In this production, we’ve incorporated elements that are more than a reading, including sound design.
Why “Rhinoceros?” The question is why not now, more than ever? The play is about herd mentality, about shining a light on unexamined ideas that gain their energy from living in the darkness, and about fear-based thought. Ionesco approaches the story of people turning into rhinoceroses with humor, tragedy and satire all at once.
Elizabeth Aspenlieder
One of the themes about the play that we’ve expressed in our ads and social media is: It’s absurd, or is it? Not today, it’s not. It’s really an epic play — it covers logic, intellect, absurdity, escapism, fascism. In the play, people are just joining in with the herd, like what happened on January 6. It’s such a layered play. You have to be a bit of a surgeon to pull it apart. But the parallels to our situation today are so apparent.
The production came together very quickly. Because the actors are all over the place, we’re rehearsing Friday and Saturday afternoon, and go on stage with it at 7. We’ve got some great rhinoceros sound effects, and there’ll be other surprises that pop up. It’s been an adventure putting this together. We hope it won’t just be a one-time-only event. The buzz is out there; our social media is getting great hits. We’d love to do a Berkshires production beyond the Berkshires.
Although admission is free, audience members are encouraged to leave a donation. The proceeds will help fund Saint James Place, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that not only serves as theater and event space but also houses the People’s Pantry, which offers a weekly food supplementation to resident of Southern Berkshire County.
'Rhinocerous" summary:
"Rhinoceros" follows the story of a French ne'er do well, Berenger, a heavy drinker and procrastinator, whose friend Jean, a hard-working successful business man, is trying to help Berenger pull his life together. Tensions rise between the two friends and as the day unfolds a frightening new dynamic arrives on the scene as Berenger discovers that everyone around him, even his best friend Jean, are suddenly changing into rhinoceroses — in fact, the rhino kingdom seems to be taken over the entire town!
