Metropolitan Playhouse
Virtual Playhouse
Presents
A Screened Reading
of

THE SILENT WAITER

Written by ALFRED KREYMBORG

Directed by LAURA LIVINGSTON

Featuring
KYLE MAXWELL & KEVIN MELENDEZ

Graphics by ANNE FIZZARD

Talkback with DR. BRENDA MURPHY, Professor Emeritus, University of Connecticut

www.metropolitanplayhose.org/virtualplayhouse

March 13, 2021 8 p.m.

Besties Jim and Hal are out for dinner and drinks, on this, the eve of Jim’s wedding to Stella. Bottle after bottle release the in-vino-veritas between them. Jim worries on and on about is abilities to be a good husband and make Stella happy. Hal chides his friend. Why not worry that she may not make you happy? Jim is shocked. Stella is perfect, a “diamond in the sky”, as the children’s rhyme goes. Hal mocks him. Jim certainly doesn’t look happy as the joyful day approaches. In fact, he appears to be absolutely miserable.

The rest of the hour is a sometimes heated, sometimes heartfelt, discussion of “What is love?” From time to time the waiter appears or is summoned. He never says a word.

In clever rhythmic dialogue, the two go on and on. Love is basically selfish. Love is ownership over another. As the wine flows, so do the words. A revelation looms. Unrequited love haunts your soul like a ghost forever. Are you being married for love or are you just “the next quest?” Hal takes a tiny bottle of “action” from his pocket. They give the waiter, who “hears all but says nothing”, a small task to do (for a healthy tip).

You will never guess the ending. Just wait and be surprised.

Author ALFRED KREYMBORG was a total Modernist in the early 1900’s. His parents were German immigrants and he had that German gene, if there is such a thing, for eccentricity in poetry and all his writings. Out of the box for sure. He arrived in Greenwich Village in 1913, and found others as freethinking and talented as himself. Counter-realists who challenged conventions of the day. This play was published in 1920.

Best known as a symbolist poet, he made his living being a chess master. He also adored puppetry. Squares and puppets. ANNE FIZZARD’s graphics are perfect. Three windows. In the middle, the waiter, who is a drawing. Graphics in the middle window connect the actors with graphics of their toasting with the wine glasses, shaking hands, and other interactions. All of KREYMBORG’s unique symbolism is conveyed flawlessly.

And yes, actors KYLE MAXWELL & KEVIN MELENDEZ nailed it. Watch and enjoy!

-Karen D’Onofrio-