"White Noise"

The Cell gives us Tolerance Party #4, "The Signal Through The Noise".

Joseph Hendel gives the viewer a very interesting play; two main characters with different lifestyles as well as different views of the world. The entire play takes place in a breakout room where we encounter a total of three characters, two of whom are the main focal point of a well written play; for the most part. Hendel presents the bohemian actor, Heather Mo Witz as a woman who is educated in a Charter school and has certain ideas about the world. Although a somewhat radical bohemian, she is not immersed in overly radical ideas; she simply makes her points and listens for a reaction. She hears more from the noise than her counter part India Menete(~ over the N). India is a suburban housewife who sees the world in a different place; this place involves her children, parades and a sense of history that omits the imperfections. Where India hears a parade, Heather sees slavery, injustice and a global New World Order that is out of her grasp.

What Handel does in his plays thoughts is brilliant; the air conditioner emits songs, chants, people talking, and we the viewer must decipher what the noises and sounds represent. Hendel is showing us that we hear what we want too hear and our opinion is the only one that counts. The two woman are polar opposites, from the white outfit of India signifying purity, the purple shirt of Heather showing solidarity of the forgotten. While Heater's character is more subdued, she seems to be more in the know as to what is going on today; Hendel makes this evident in that India is seen quoting a Revolutionary War hero, Nathan Hale.

As far a virtual theater goes, "Signal' is one of the best plays I have seen so far. It is for the most part deep, thought provoking and keeps you guessing as to where Hendel is taking us. In the last scene it is very well pointed out of the disconnect with society. Is anybody listening? He shows us the different worlds of two people deftly. If Hendel went a little deeper in the dialogue, he may well have hit it out of the park. When Heather mentions world leaders, Hendel may have talked about the Socialist "New World Order'. In speaking of minority oppression, he could have mention how our first black president never furthered along minorities. Hendel had endless options and only scratched the surface on the subjects that he touched upon. With deeper rhetoric we would see more of the characters opinions and why they believe in their philosophies.

As far as virtual theater goes, "Signal" has a little more movement from a directive stand point. It seems that many of these virtual plays are adjusting and adapting to make this type of theater more interesting. At first, virtual theater was very mundane and boring; many of the first plays were read with script in hand, the actors had little emotion and virtual theater seemed to be lost and confused.

There seems to be good news on the horizon, however; it seems that theater will be reopening sooner rather than later. The talk in the theater community is that out door plays will start to open very shortly; indoor theater may also reopen with spacing among the audience. All of this news is welcomed; people are starved for theater.

Movie theaters are also opening in New York City. Tremendous buzz is about in NYC... Restaurants were packed last night in the West Village, as were the cafes and clubs. One gets a sense that the population is ready to return to normal and people are ready to get back to a normal life especially with the entertainment industry. For a year people have been closed in from Covid 19 and NYC is ready to reopen and come back to life.

When theater fully returns from Covid 19, I suspect that the Broadway houses will be packed with people who want entertainment that they missed this past year. In the meantime, many Press Agents did a great job getting virtual theater to the masses. It also gave actors the opportunity to earn money in these very difficult times. Even when live theater returns, we may still see streaming virtual theater as another form of entertainment. Not a bad idea as people can enjoy theater for a lower price than an off Broadway or Broadway production.

Robert Massimi is a member of The Drama League, The Dramatists Guild and writes for My Life Publication, Metropolitan Magazine as well as Nimbus Magazine.