Gershwin Hall Starts Final Season with John Patrick Shanley’s "Savage in Limbo"

Rose Burnett Bonczek, Director

Director Rose Burnett Bonczek (kneeling) and the cast of “Savage in Limbo”

What’s your title?
I’m head of the undergraduate acting program, and this is my first play here since I directed "Take Me Out" last year. I’ve been directing projects outside the department, however, including the Laramie Project for the Synergy Ensemble Theater Company of Long Island and a staged reading of Israel Horovitz’s "Barking Sharks" at the Cherry Lane Theater for Barefoot Theater Company, where I am a board member.

You’re a Brooklyn College alumna, too, aren’t you?
I obtained my M.F.A. right here back in 1991.

Why did you choose Shanley’s play "Savage in Limbo"?
Shanley is a Tony and Pulitzer Award winner, and I chose his play because it is both a funny and dark tale that is very close to being a ghost story.

Who are the characters?
A 32-year-old virgin (protagonist Denise Savage), an Italian stud and his erstwhile girlfriend, a mysterious bartender and a failed nun are all hunting for an escape route.

What’s the gist of the story?
All five characters are 32, went to school together and are haunted by their fears. On this particular night at a Bronx bar circa 1983, however, they try to seize the moment and struggle to wrestle with those fears and escape the "cages" of their minds, hearts and souls—hence the play’s title. You can say they are at the turn of the tide.

What other projects have you been working on?
For the last three years, I’ve been working with Steve Ansell, the artistic director of Screaming Media, on Gi60, or Gone in 60 Seconds, a bi-continental theater event of 100 plays of one-minute duration. Fifty of the plays are staged here at Brooklyn College and the other 50 at Leeds Metropolitan University. Next spring we should hopefully do it again. 

Gershwin Hall is being torn down soon. What are your feelings?
I wanted to direct one more play before it went down. When a building is about to go—and we see its demise coming—I think it’s good to tell a story about what haunts us all and convey the message that life’s too short and, therefore, we must seize the moment. It’s a bit like the characters in the play—all of them fight for a change in their lives. Our department is facing a big change, too. After 60 wonderful years and lots of plays, we’re saying goodbye to Gershwin.