|  RENO...
Gallant and Gutsy in the Garment District
by Rhonda
Tenenbaum
Born
and bred New Yorkers, tenacious tourists and those proudly
transplanted
from another place and time should expect to experience provocation
and awe these days inside The Zipper Theatre, an intimate
playhouse where “concept comedian” Reno holds court
nightly as she recounts the events of September
11th in her
current performance piece: Reno: Rebel Without A Pause newly
subtitled ''Unrestrained Reflections on Sept. 11''.
Opening
with the replaying of a September 11th telephone message
left on her answering machine by a friend, we soon learn
Reno,
like
many
entertainers tends to sleep late yet with the horrors that
befell that fall day, her friend almost pleads for Reno’s
“awakening”.
 And
‘awaken’ she does as she recounts witnessing one
of the most horrific acts of terror ever conducted on American
soil while living just blocks away from what has been christened
“Ground Zero”. In her brash, cunning way, we see
and share her pathos as she awakens us to a new political
landscape- more confusing, ("Where the hell was the
emergency broadcast system?") conservative and
combative toward our own populace, reminding us George W.,
Ashcroft and Rumsfeld are attempting to rewrite The Bill of
Rights.
Considered
the first entertainer to use the event in a public discourse,
Reno’s need to challenge the status quo is welcomed as
she challenges us to want to be better, to want to challenge
the powers that be... and we need her now more than ever.
Presented
by Barbara Ligeti, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, David Worby,
Stephen Hansen and C. Kim McCarthy. At the Zipper Theater,
336 West 37th Street, Manhattan.
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