Cruel Theatre's 'Witness' hurls audience into action
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
"Material Witness," an interactive play staged every 30 minutes between 7 and 10 p.m., May 3 through 6 and May 10 through 13, will mark the return of Cruel Theatre to the theatrical front here.
Cruel Theater
Performances will be at the American Dream Bar, at Kona and Pensacola streets in Kaka'ako.
Thomas Isao Morinaka, center, contemplates turning in his friend, Eric Dixon Burns, for a crime against victim Christie Hauptman in Cruel Theatre's "Material Witness."
"Witness" deals with a proposal for a new law arising from a real-life incident, involving two high school boys vacationing in Las Vegas.
One lad meets a girl, 8, in a casino, and proceeds to rape her in a bathroom, strangling her and leaving her broken body in a toilet. He is incarcerated in an adult prison, serving a life sentence, but his companion, who peeked in the toilet stall and witnessed the alleged crime, did nothing to halt the assault and remains free.
The cast features Eric Dixon Burns, Thomas Isao Morinaka and Christie Hauptman.
In Cruel Theatre tradition, the audience is hurled into the action of the play and the burden of reporting or not reporting the crime is on the shoulder of a spectator, with each audience member paired off with one actor, promoting interaction with the performers. The technique is attributed to Richard Schechner's idea of environmental theater, embracing a real-life restaurant-bar environment for the performance. Schechner is head of the Tisch School at New York University.
Attendance is limited. Tickets: $12 for adults, $7 for students, available 30 minutes before each performance. Information: 523-1004.
