Presented by Center Theater Group as part of its second annual Block Party festival, Ameryka digs deep into the twin history of the USA and Poland to make a bold statement about mankind’s struggle for democracy and freedom over the centuries. Originally developed and produced by the Critical Mass Performance Group (headed by Nancy Keystone) and brought back for this encore production by CTG, Ameryka is agit-prop theater at its best. Nine actors, all of whom play multiple roles, impersonate such historical characters as Thomas Jefferson, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, and William J. Casey in telling the play’s long, sprawling, but always compelling, story. It is a story played out on a mostly bare stage, with just a few props, light cues and quick costume changes to enhance the action (plus Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh’s projection designs). The actors move in and out of the narrative with choreographed precision, handling the many jumps in time with impressive skill and authority. Things start back in the days of the American Revolution, when Poland’s General Kosciuszko came to the aid of the freedom-fighters. Not only a brilliant military strategist but a passionate believer in democracy and equality, Kosciuszko was welcomed by Jefferson, who saw him as a kindred soul, an inspiration, a comrade in arms. Their friendship blossomed, even though the always-honest, forthright general was not afraid to raise the issue of slavery with Jefferson (and the slaughter of the indigenous population as well). How could Jefferson and his fellow republican leaders trumpet their belief that “all men are created equal” even as they privately continued to treat people of color as chattel? The complexities and contradictions of democracy are bravely explored in Ameryka in scenes that take place in both the USA and Poland. The latter country’s history is sketched: brief periods of freedom and self-determination crushed by outside forces: in our time first by the Germans then the Russians. Ameryka shows how the Poles fought back as best they could against their Stalinist rulers, with writers going underground and publishing in secret, and shipyard workers risking their lives to form a union and go on strike. That strike, as the play shows, was aided and abetted by Casey’s CIA and much-praised by President Reagan. At the same time, and here is an example of just how bold and insightful the play is, Reagan on the domestic front was breaking the air-controllers’ union, putting over a hundred thousand people out of work. Reagan also turns up in another scene, on the 1951 panel of the House Un-American Committee’s investigation into “subversive” activities in Hollywood. His part in the witch hunt was overlooked by most Americans when he ran for president thirty years later. There is lots more to the story Ameryka tells over its near-three-hour length. We meet two black characters, one of whom is a musician recruited n 1959 by the State Department to bring jazz to Iron Curtain Poland, as a symbol of freedom-loving America (which, of course, was still a segregated society at the time). We also meet an Indian chief, members of the Polish resistance, lovers of the movie “High Noon” (whose writer-director Carl Foreman was blacklisted by Reagan’s congressional cohorts). The kaleidoscopic nature of Ameryka is kept in focus by Keystone’s tight, disciplined direction and the crisp, assured acting by the gifted Critical Mass ensemble. The resulting and fascinating production is not to be missed.
