"Tales from the Salt City"

Theatre review
"Tales From the Salt City" at Syracuse Stage
Ithaca Times
October 29, 2008
691 words
"Syracuse Stage tells seven stories"

full text here

Syracuse Stages seven stories

Mark Tedeschi

Tales From the Salt City, conceived and directed by Ping Chong. Written by Ping Chong and Sara Michelle Zatz, also project manager. Starring Lino T. Ariloka, Gordana Dudevski, Rebecca Isabel Fuentes, José Miguel Hernández, Albert Marshall, Emad Rahim, and Jeanne Shenandoah. With dramaturg Kyle Bass, projection designer Maya Ciarrocchi, lighting designer Darren W. McCroom, sound designer Jonathan R. Herter, and stage manager Amber Dickerson.

A story told well will entertain and, we hope, edify. Watching a movie or reading a book often instills in us poignant lessons or observations about life. And if what we're seeing has the stamp "based on a true story" emblazoned alongside its title, watch out - somehow, its credibility skyrockets.

Plays based on reality - to the extent that they can be labeled "documentary theatre" - are exceptionally interesting animals. The immediacy of live performance, by its nature, foregrounds representation of reality, so what could that stamp realistically add? Well, if it's done Ping Chong's way: more than you ever thought possible.

Tales from the Salt City, Chong's 38th project in a series titled "Undesirable Elements," has no real need for either of the above labels. "Tales" is a collection of stories, told by the people who experienced them, wound together into the big ball of yarns in which we all play roles.

Seven performers, chosen after a series of interviews, face the audience in a semicircle, sitting atop 2,500 pounds of salt. When they speak sequentially in their first languages, the juxtaposition of sounds creates a rousing euphony - after all, the rich variance of language is a flagship of cultural identity. They read the script from music stands. They come from seven distinct worlds, but they tell their story as one, chronologically. They only speak a few sentences at a time, often playing characters in different stories or simply adding to each others' thoughts. The seven seem to have little in common besides a life constantly balancing struggle and joy that led them, ultimately, to Syracuse.

As briefly as justice permits, the performers: Lino T. Ariloka, an 8-year Syracuse resident from Sudan; Gordana Dudevski, a mother of two from Velas, Macedonia; Rebecca Isabel Fuentes, an Army Specialist-turned-immigrant rights activist from Tijuana, Mexico; José Miguel Hernández, a theatre dance instructor from Cuba; Albert Marshall, a black Syracuse native and president of the 1277 United Steel Workers Local Union; Emad Rahim, a Cambodian Muslim who lost his parents in the Killing Fields; and Jeanne Shenandoah, an herbalist and member of the Eel Clan of the Onondaga Nation.

Unified clapping and the announcement of a year and place, typically stated by the storyteller and echoed by the rest of the circle, punctuates their words. Each member starts with the circumstances of his or her birth and follows with early family life. Eventually, one by one, they make their way to Syracuse - and to crowd-pleaser lines like "Then she took me to Wegman's... wow!" and, "Ever since they built that Carousel Mall, Syracuse has never been the same!"

A few times, they relax the often fast-paced dialogue for a musical interlude, either sung with show-stopping beauty by one of the performers or played via sound system while the huge projection screen in the background displays images related to their stories. During the latter, the performers rise and pace while the lighting shifts to a deep blue and pillars of salt cascade, neatly somehow, down to the ground, a tribute to Syracuse's salt mining hisory. They reorganize their places, reinforcing the show's no-one's-in-charge harmony.

Chong and Zatz based the show's script on the interviews with the Syracuse performers and gave them final approval to make sure that the lines appropriately "sounded" like them. By level of enthusiasm, some have a more natural stage presence than others (and there's an occasional, understandable overlap of lines), but all, with an earnest, nothing-to-lose honesty, are able to effectively communicate both deep sadness and heartfelt laughter. And the unique motifs ("One... two... three eternities pass," and, "Don't rock the boat") give the script a laudable cohesion.

The "Undesirable Elements," unfortunately, are the seven performers; each has been subject to cultural prejudice at one time or another. A harsh reality, but Chong's work shines light not solely on the sorry state of affairs, but on the possibilities of humanity and the potential for improvement. Thanks to Ping Chong & Company's acceptance into a new arts initiative created by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, more "Undesirable Elements" productions might be cropping up in other cities. Great news - I want to see another one.


The cast of ‘Tales from the Salt City,’ now playing at Syracuse Stage. (Photo by Michael Davis)