Robert Mecea for New York Daily
Undine, l., played by Natalie Venetia Belcon, and her husband Herve played by Scott Voloshin are seen during a rehearsal of "Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine" a play performed at the Brooklyn Lyceeum. (NY Daily News Photo/Robert Mecea)
An Pulitzer Prize-winning Brooklyn writers play is taking the stage in her home borough for the first time
Fabulation, or, the Re-education of Undine , by acclaimed playwright Lynn Nottage, which tells the story of a high-flying Manhattan publicist forced to return to her childhood home in a Brooklyn housing project after her husband robs her blind and runs off, opened last Thursday at the Brooklyn Lyceum, a former Gowanus bathhouse building.
Its going to be fun, particularly because its a play that takes place in downtown Brooklyn, so a lot of the landmarks will resonate, said Nottage, who lives in Boerum Hill.
The plays main character moved from the Walt Whitman Houses in Fort Greene to the Manhattan high life and never looks back, going so far as to pretend her family was killed in a fire. effectively killed off her Brooklyn heritage, Nottage said of the play first put on in Manhattan in 2004. When shes bankrupted and loses everything, she finds that the only people who are willing to help her are the people that she killed off.
The play is a comeuppance tale where shes forced to go home and confront where she comes from. I wanted to do it in a fun whimsical way, she said.
The play will alternate nights with The Merry Wives of Windsor (Terrace) , a take on the Shakespearian classic transported to 1980s Windsor Terrace complete with big hair and Brooklyn accents, which the Brave New World Repertory Theatre debuted last year.
Part of the concept is were telling stories of two difference Brooklyns, said Claire Beckman, producing artistic director for the Ditmas Park-based company. They are both working class stories about hard-working Brooklynites.
Its really the story of a black womans fall from grace and her journey back t o Brooklyn with her tale between her legs, she said. Its a very serious and poignant comedy in a lot of ways, but it is a comedy - its hilariously funny.
The company is doing a six-week residency at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Fourth Ave. bath house. Besides the plays, theyre offering readings on Sundays and classes for kids.
The production takes advantage of historic but beat-up building. The space is very very raw here. This is not really a theater space per se, so its a very home grown production, said Cynthia Babak, who is directing the play. Its definitely got a gritty quality to it. The space is a little gritty, and I think that will work in our favor.
We hope to get people from Manhattan coming on the R train to see our production, but its wonderful that theatergoers in Brooklyn that would normally be taking the train to Manhattan can just walk down the street or ride their bikes over, she said.
edurkin@nydailynews.com
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