SARA’S WEDDING
By Rich Quatrone
WHEN: Sunday, January 18th, at 2:00 PM
WHERE: Arttank, 529 Bangs Avenue, Asbury Park
TICKETS: $7 suggested donation.
For more information log onto www.blackboxnj.org.
Black Box Asbury Park presents a reading of Sara’s Wedding, a new play by local playwright and poet Rich Quatrone. The two-character play follows the eponymous Sara and her ostensibly betrothed, Gary, a man from whom she tries to buy a used wedding dress early in the story.
“In the late 80s and early 90s I knew a young woman who was the granddaughter of a famous American poet,” says playwright Quatrone. “She'd been institutionalized for her mental instability and would walk the streets in an aimless way. In conversation she was quite brilliant. I was a little in awe of her because of her pedigree,” he admits. Her grandfather—intentionally unnamed—changed the course of American poetry and was a major influence on the Beats, including Allen Ginsberg and Amiri Baraka. “You would think the grandchild of such a poet would also be a poet or some other kind of artist. Evidently, the woman I knew was not.”
Sara’s character is inspired by this woman and is Quatrone’s take on what ailed her. The play asks this central question: if creative genius does not have an art form, what becomes of it?
Sara’s Wedding is part of the New Play Initiative at the Black Box, which presents readings of new works in progress on the third Sunday of each month. “Rich is a seasoned writer who has a tremendous passion for developing new plays and brings a challenging, sometimes confrontational, theatricality to his work,” says Alexis Kozak, Literary Manager of the Black Box. “His work often edges towards questions that we don’t necessarily want to hear the answers to. We are very excited to bring his new play to the public.”
