The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

Dana Priebe as “Luellen” a young mother trying to get her son back from ‘the system’, lashes out at “Mary”, a social worker portrayed by Rebecca Robbins.

LIBERTY – “Final Placement”, a one-act play by Ara Watson made it’s debut at the Humana Festival, and in the years since has played all over the world.

The Humana Festival of New American Plays is produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, and is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary America playwright. It was founded in 1976 by Jon Jory, former Actors Theatre producing director. Starting this week, it takes double billing for eight performances at the Liberty Free Theatre alongside Paul Austin’s “Not Much to Say” a new work in three scenes.

“It is a brutally candid and profoundly compassionate as it investigates the confrontation between a social worker and a young women whole child has been taken away from her,” said Austin.

“No Much to Say” is by Paul Austin, founder and artistic director of the Liberty Free Theatre, who said of his own work, “It was written as an homage to Nobel Laureates Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, and the language is one of the more unusual features of the play in that no line of dialogue is longer than one word.”

While teaching the art of acting and directing at Sarah Lawrence University for 18-years , Austin assigned “Final Placement” to his graduate students, as it explores the often contentious relationship between the poor and social workers, in a sense the never-ending battle between folks who don’t have a couple of pennies to rub together and society at large.

In “Final Placement”, a young poor mother with abusive husband battles with a social worker to regain custody of her son, who was taken away from her after she abused him.

Asked how the play spoke to him, Austin replied, “I grew up poor, so I recognize the fierce effect poverty has on people, and the kinds of pressures it creates on their lives…the battle for survival is constant. Poverty makes people angry, and they’re hustling all the time…if you’re really poor, you’re on the fringes of society…[and] you’re dangerous because you’re so needy, and poor people are dangerous because they have been wronged.”

Austin described “Final Placement” as “packed with resonance, it’s a powerful examination of all the things that are involved in our culture, the unequal distribution of wealth.”

The play stars Dana Priebe as “Luellen” the abusive mother fighting ‘the system’ for her so, and Rebecca Robbins in the role of “Mary”, the newly minted social worker.

Priebe is a regular presence on stage at the Liberty Free Theatre, performing in Rilla Askew’s “By the Time We Got to Woodstock,” “The Person I Once Was,” “Betrayed by Everyone” and “Face Divided.”

Robbins, who is making her debut as the local theatre known for “everyone welcome, always”, has a long list of award-winning acting credits including Catherine in “Proof” (TANYS Outstanding Performance Award), Girl in “Veronica’s Room” (TANYS Outstanding Festival Performance Award), and Shelby in “Steel Magnolias” (TANYS Outstanding Performance Award). Directorial credits include “Negative” which garnered a TANYS Meritorious Achievement Award, “The Female Odd Couple” and “The Night of January 16”. TANYS are community theatre awards bestowed by the Theatre Association of New York State.

Neither play is recommended for children, as at times the dialogue would make a U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant blush. Probably not, but you get the idea that some of the language is rather raw.

Performances are Thursday through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at
3:00 p.m., December 3-6 and December 10-13. Seating is limited, so reservations “as always” are suggested. For information/reservations, call 292-3788. The Liberty Free Theatre is located at 109 South Main Street, Liberty, NY.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Ara Watson’s “Final Placement” Comes to LFT visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.