'Remember Me' tests limits of fiction

ENTERTAINMENT

'Remember Me' tests limits of fiction

By CHRISTOPHER POTTER

NEWS ARTS WRITER

How closely can art imitate life? That’s the blunt theme of “Remember Me,” and it could be a spellbinder.

“It’s a very, very real play and production,” says director Stephanie A. Pascaris of friend and co-playwright Ryan Patterson’s semi-autobiographical drama opening Thursday at Performance Network. “There’s not fantastical imagery, no special lighting effects. It’s very much from life."

That life is undiguisedly that of Patterson, a recent U-M grad, and recounts his AIDS-plagued relationship with his homosexual ex-lover. “Ryan’s not a trained playwright,” says co-author Pascaris. “He wrote down a monologue mostly for his own sake, to get him through his own emotions.

“He put himself into a character named Jackson, and turned the monologue into a one-man show called ‘My Life, Welcome To It.’ It was Ryan’s way of living out what he would liked to have lived out.

“In real life, Ryan never got a chance to say goodbye to his lover, John. John had told him, ‘I have AIDS, you don’t. I don’t want to put you at risk. I don’t want you in my life. I don’t want you to watch me die.’ So he shut himself off from Ryan, from his own family, from the rest of the world.”

In contrast, “Remember Me” presents an alternate form of closure. Says Pascaris, “Ryan would have liked to have held John’s hand in the hospital room. He would have liked to have said ‘Goodbye. I love you. I’ll be with you to the end.’

“In the play, the character Jackson (i.e. Ryan) says ‘I don’t care. I’m staying.’ And his lover Marc (i.e. John) says OK, whereas the real-life John said no.”

Told via flashbacks, “Remember Me” - which premiered last year in U-M’s Basement Arts series - chronicles the relationship of Jackson (David Burtka) and Marc (Randy Kur-Stin) from first-meeting to post-death.

Says Pascaris, “We try to play up the comic, loving-relationship aspects of the story as much as possible. We don’t want viewers slumped in their seats in tears at the end of the play. Sometimes laughter can come out of tears, when you’re caught up in so much emotion.

“And after all, this is a love story. It’s not a play about AIDS, it’s a play about all the aspects of a deep relationship from its beginning to its end.”

Other characters in “Remember Me” include Marc’s lesbian best friend Peggy (Ingrid Eggert-sen), Jackson’s homophobic parents Diana and Frank (Anne Rhoades and David Wright), Marc’s mother Ellen (Erica Dutton) and brother Tim (Jon Bennetj.

“There’s so many parallels to real life,” notes Pascaris. “Ryan’s family does not accept him. In the play Jackson’s mother tells him, ‘(Homosexuality) is a sin. I can’t accept it. You’re my favorite son but you’re going to Hell. And thank God you’re not telling this to your father!’ Conversely, Marc’s family is very accepting of his gender choice.”

Pascaris says Patterson (who’s currently in Chicago pursuing an acting career) asked her to help him expand his monologue into a full-length play.

“We worked on it about four months, got it into a loose form and had a reading with some students. We got good feedback, sat down and worked on it again, and a staged reading turned into a full-blown production in ’94,” he said.

“To have the opportunity to do it again is a wonderful thing. I didn’t want to just drop this piece.”

“We’ve used a lot of improvisation in rehearsal, and luckily both actors like to work in that vein,” says Pascaris. “In fact, we’ve incorporated some of their stuff into the script.”

As for the play’s accompanying true-life drama, “At this point, Ryan can’t reach John. He’s always been very close to John’s family, but for the last few weeks he’s been calling and calling and hasn’t gotten any response. So we don’t know whether John’s alive or dead.

“That makes ‘Remember Me’ even more important to Ryan. It’s a form of closure, of getting on with your life. We hope we can convey the great love that's there.”

"Remember Me" runs Thursday-Sunday Jan. 11-14, 18-21 and 25-28 at Performance Network, 408 W. Washington St. Curtain Thursday through Saturday is 8 p.m., curtain Sunday is 7 p.m. Thursday is Pay-What-You-Can Night. For information call 663-0681.

Photo: Randy Kurstin, left, and David Burtka in 'Remember Me.'

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