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Syracuse Stage's Embrace Dramatically Warms Up Life with 'Other Desert Cities'

I hadn't sweated from the jolt that goes with experiencing fine live theater in too long.

So when my dear wife Karen informed me that her name had been pulled out of the work hat to win a pair of tickets for the first weekend's run of the production of "Other Desert Cities" at Syracuse Stage, I was a happy camper, indeed.

My inkling that it would be an interesting night was reinforced when we found an open parking spot on East Genesee Street just a block up and across from Syracuse University's building. I grabbed my iPhone 6 to take photos as soon as dusk fell and my pulse quickened. Gorgeous building. The lighting builds the drama.

The striking inside lobby was filled with bustling patrons. The back room was cordoned off by a velvet rope, but Syracuse State producing artistic director Timothy Bond could be seen microphone in hand, clearly addressing a full floor of chairs. If you lingered at the opening, his words about the play drifted out.

Of course, all you had to do to brush up on your own was to look on the wall at display placard that announced Jon Robin Baitz as the writer and Bond as the director, as well as the fact that the production was co-produced with Portland Center Stage. Another poster held photos and a third the listing of the cast: D'Arcy Dersham as Brook Wyeth, Barbara Broughton as Polly Wyeth, Ned Schmidtke as Lyman Wyeth, Dori Legg as Silda Grauman and Joel Reuben Ganz as Trip Wyeth.
 
 
 

The Wyeths and the Reagans.

Behind cafe tables, that wall held placards that contained an intriguing link about the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, each singly linking a Wyeth to President Ronald Reagan and a family member.

 
Nicely dressed theater goers of many ages and races sipped drinks from the bar and took advantage of Syracuse Stage's prep work. I concession stand sold merchandise; a poster next to that trumpeted the June 19 gala at Goldstein Auditorium with Grammy Award-winning bluesman Keb' Mo'.

The lights flashed twice, hastening the procession toward the seats inside Archbold Theater.

The stage set look beautiful, with a desert city scene from Palm Beach indeed lurking outside a rear window of this well-appointed living room with a stone fireplace as a centerpiece for which the five characters to revolve.

And, oh, how this story puts them in interesting places during the two acts.
 

The cast prepares for Act Two on the lovely stage set.

Says Bond in the program notes: "On first exposure to 'Other Desert Cities a couple of years ago, I was struck by the love, humor, political sparring and fragile emotions shared among the five characters that inhabit the play. Set in Palm Springs, California, the events of the play occur on a single day, Christmas Eve, 2004, but the memories and the arguments of the play span the period from Vietnam to the post-9/11 invasion in Iraq."

No spoilers here. I'll say that the story closely examines the dynamic between parents and children, with an eccentric aunt thrown in for very good measure, with dialogue that spans years of compiling stress and anxiety and emotional baggage. There are funny lines, yes, and endearing moments, indeed. But mostly the five on stage, accomplished actors all in these roles, are dealing with drama and horrors and discoveries that depressed me greatly but surely felt like my America.

It was a satisfying return to what the live arts offer in our city.

"Other Desert Cities" runs through April 26. More information about dates, times and ticket availability can be found at syracusestage.org.

Mark Bialczak has lived in Central New York for 30 years. He's well known for writing about music and entertainment. In 2013, he started his own blog, markbialczak.com, to comment about the many and various things that cross his mind daily.