Don't Miss: Ivy Lane Players Present 'The Broken Jug' At Levittown Public Library

LEVITTOWN, NY. — The Levittown Public Library will transform into a 19th century Dutch courtroom this weekend, as the Ivy Lane Players present their production of “The Broken Jug,” a satire by Heinrich von Kleist in which the judge in the case is secretly the perpetrator of the crime over which he’s presiding.

The production is helmed by the married duo of Henry Brewer and Tara La Bella, who translated Kleist’s work from its original German themselves before writing it into a new version. When asked what prompted the duo to translate the work themselves, Brewer said the motivation was simple.

“I couldn’t find a version I liked,” Brewer said. “There were problems. There are a number of translations, we went back to the 19th century. It has been adapted as an Irish play, which we loved, but there are royalties involved to mount that production. And we decided, since we do not charge, since all of the performances are for free, that we would do our own version. We like to think of ourselves as the best bargain in theater on Long Island. We do quality work and we never charge.”

With the script sorted, the Ivy Lane production turned to the task of casting, which Brewer said presented its own challenges.

“We needed clowns. The good kind, not the scary kind,” Brewer said, emphasizing the importance that the cast could, “make the language readily understandable, and…play the zany, whacky farce” presented in “The Broken Jug.”

Leading that cast of clowns are Daniel Peters and Maggie Cirniski, playing the respective roles of Adam and Eve. Peters is in his third production with Ivy Lane, while Cirniski is a newcomer. Despite varying degrees of experience with the company, the duo both said they enjoy similar parts of working with Ivy Lane.

“I feel like this is an actors’ company. What I mean by that is it’s much less — in a lot of companies they’ll just say, 'Here’s how it is, here’s how it’s gonna be, and do it’ — Henry and Tara, both, are a lot more hands-on with the actors,” Peters said. “So you get to feel like your voice is heard and sometimes if you and them come up with an idea that works they let you do it. And that’s a good feeling as an actor, that your experience and your thoughts are valued.”

“We have such great direction with Henry and such wonderful production quality, value and extra support from Tara,” Cirniski added. “She’s been amazing. She’s done all the costuming, her and Henry do all of the props, and the furniture, literally everything you’ll see this weekend is a product of what they’ve created together. It’s just such an amazing team to work with.”

While the rehearsal process for any production is arduous, Cirniski said the effort being put in by the director and producer make that process a little more rewarding.

“You know that everything you’re putting in, they’re putting in just as much if not more. And if you have any questions, or any thoughts on your character, or maybe you just want to explore that further, they’re always willing to help,” Cirniski said. “And Tara has been just as big a supporter in those rehearsals as Henry has, in her role as producer. It’s really helping me grow, as somebody who doesn’t have a BFA, or a BA, it’s been a wonderful experience.”

Neither Cirniski nor Peters are full-time actors, but that hasn’t stopped the duo from bringing their own twist to–perhaps literally–one of the oldest duos in the book.

“Let’s say this take on it takes Adam down a peg or two, and puts Eve on the pedestal,” Peters said. “It’s been very interesting not being such a, what’s the word I’m looking for? Not being such an enlightened figure.”

“I don’t want to give away too much, but let’s just say it’s a much more innocent version of Eve, and a much darker version of Adam,” Cirniski added. “While her name is Eve, the character itself has so much more to her than just the name. It was really interesting to be able to dig into that and understand that she is still searching for knowledge, which is what was happening in the original, but she’s searching for that truth. And she’s trying to put that truth out there in a way that’s still going to protect herself and her loved ones.”

When asked what they hope audiences take away from the weekend’s performances, Cirniski focused on the ubiquity of concepts like truth and the story everyone has.

“I hope they take away the understanding that every single character in that show could be represented by any one of us,” Cirniski said. “Maybe not Adam, as much, because he is the bad guy, but we all have the darker sides to us. And, really understanding that, in order to get to the truth of anything, in order to get to the full story, you have to have the different parts.”

For Peters, the hope is that the absurd comedy shines through, even if the play itself is over 200 years-old.

“The stuff people were going through back then, although the specifics have changed, the absurdity of day-to-day life is the same for all of us,” Peters said. “We’ve got to find comedy in it, really. You’ve got to find the comedy with the absurdity of what goes on in day-to-day life.”

Performances of "The Broken Jug" will take place Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m.