The massacre and diaspora of the Armenians are terrible crimes of the 20th Century that are at last receiving attention. A current exhibit on Ellis Island in New York documents the atrocity in which, beginning in 1915, more than 1 million Armenians lost their lives in Turkey; and a raft of books and plays devoted to the subject is now telling the stories of the survivors and their families.
Last year, Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park presented one of these plays, Richard Kalinoski’s “Beast on the Moon.” This year, to open its 15th season, the theater is staging another drama of immigrants, Leslie Ayvazian’s “Nine Armenians.”
The play, which Ayvazian has based in large part on her own family history, begins and ends with the noisy, happy gathering of a suburban Armenian-American family. There are nine persons in the family when the play begins; at story’s end, there are seven left, and these remaining family members have grown much closer to their heritage.
In between, the author unfolds her tale in brief scenes that show three generations gradually becoming more aware of the traditions and tragedies of their ancestors.
Ani, the young activist daughter of the family, even travels to Armenia to see for herself the desperate situation of her people; and, with the help of her raised consciousness, the whole folksy family, from grandmother to grandson, reasserts its Armenian pride.
This is a loving story, and Apple Tree has given it a loving production, but it doesn’t make a play.
Director Stevi Marks, in her staging, has tried to give the impression of life captured in family album snapshots; and the cast of nine does its best to create the impression of a volatile family caught on the wing.
But the little domestic scenes that dot the play, while sometimes touching, are often overly sentimental; and sometimes, as when grandmother and granddaughter go into a series of mourning moans, they are so overextended that they become ludicrous.
Perhaps Ayvazian would have served her play better if she had not stuck so close to the facts of her own story.
The actors respond to the material with a variety of accents and a united desire to warm the audience’s hearts. Caitlin Hart is the indomitable grandmother; Deborah King is the idealistic granddaughter who goes off to Armenia; Albena Dodeva is the fluttery, hypochondriac aunt; and Evan Bregman, a spunky 6th grader, is the family’s youngest member.
Kavork Hagopian provides live incidental music on his bouzouki; and designer J. Bramson’s set, the front of a suburban home with an auto parked in the carport, provides the atmosphere.
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“Nine Armenians”
When: Through nov. 16
Where: Apple Tree Theatre, 595 Elm Pl., Highland Park
Phone: 847-432-4335
