The Nature Theater of Oklahoma will return to Ohio State’s Wexner Center with two new shows. Putting a humorous spin on “Rambo” and Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the group will entertain audiences for nearly a week, having begun on Tuesday.
The New York City-based group, whose name finds inspiration in Franz Kafka’s book “Amerika,” will make its first appearance at the Wexner Center since making its local debut with “No Dice” and “Poetics” in 2008.
The Wexner Center will co-produce the performances, and there will be three of each.
Based on the success of past Nature Theater of Oklahoma productions, the Wexner Center was happy to partner with the group for production, said Charles Helm, director of performing arts.
The group, founded in 1995, pulls inspiration for the shows from both the original stories and the human memory, relying heavily upon the accounts of ordinary people for the performances.
“Rambo Solo,” performed by one actor, is inspired by the 1982 book “First Blood” rather than the popular film starring Sylvester Stallone, both of which tell the fictional story of Vietnam veteran John Rambo.
Directors Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper actualized the work when they asked actor Zachary Oberzan to share his version of the story via the telephone.
Using props in his apartment, Oberzan later gave a visual reenactment while being videotaped by Liska and Copper. Three videos of his retellings, paired with one live reenactment, make up Oberzan’s “Rambo Solo” performance.
The “Romeo and Juliet” performance will showcase nine individuals’ tremendously different accounts of the well-known tragedy.
“The star-crossed story is twisted into a big, gnarly knot in this flat-out hilarious riff on that revered classic,” Charles Isherwood wrote in a New York Times review of the Nature Theater’s “Romeo and Juliet” in December 2009.
Helms said that numerous layers of meaning can be found in both works.
“These are sure to be anything but typical productions of these stories,” Helm said. “Nature Theater of Oklahoma has a conceptual framework for how they approached both works.”
The shows will be unbelievable and characterized by corky humor, Helm said.
One hundred viewers can view “Romeo and Juliet,” which will be performed in the Wexner Center’s Black Box on Mershon Stage. The Wexner Center Performance Space, where “Rambo Solo” will be performed, allows for about 80 viewers per performance, seated in a circle with Oberzan at its center.
Although those numbers are not extremely large, Helms said a great turnout is expected. The productions will be performed for intimate audiences by design, he said.
During its visit, the group, in coordination with members of the university theater department, will also lead a public discussion of its version of “Romeo and Juliet” at 12:30 p.m.
This year marks the first of OSU’s three-year partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Wexner Center plans to work with more theater groups, like the Nature Theater of Oklahoma.
He also said there is already discussion of future Nature Theater of Oklahoma productions at the Wexner Center.
