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http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/leisure/arts/article_79...
Science, art fail to jell in ‘Struck’

In August 2011, theater artist Tannis Kowalchuk suffered a massive stroke at age 45. Following a remarkable recovery, Kowalchuk turned her experience into a work of art: “Struck,” a one-hour performance piece that captures her physical, emotional and spiritual recovery.

The world premiere is a co-production of NACL Theatre, a creative laboratory where co-founder Kowalchuk is artistic director, and Cleveland Public Theatre.

As one woman’s journey from a near-death experience to a life-affirming recovery and renewal, the show is inspirational, courageous and moving. But as a work of art, it is intensely personal, enigmatic and hard to grasp.

The piece evolved from a collaborative process that combines music, song, dance, movement, narrative, science, digital art and film, and physical theater. My problem with “Struck” is that while extremely well performed and often lyrical in nature and execution, it left me mostly puzzled and clueless.

The play follows Catherine, a stroke victim who travels through a dreamscape somewhere between life and death. Along the way, she encounters a mysterious male figure (Brett Keyser) who could be her husband, an angel or a manifestation of herself.

Directed by Ker Wells, the play blends science and poetry as Catherine walks us through the process by which her brain was restoring itself. Allison Waters, a former NACL company member who is now a neuroscientist, appears as the play’s neurologist via projected imagery.

According to Kowalchuk, the play is about facing death and how memory, family and personal history can consume one’s thoughts when dealing with mortality. Memories of her Icelandic grandparents become part of her mental landscape. She describes how her grandfather died of a stroke and how an angel appeared to him before his death. In like manner, Keyser appears as an angel with snowshoes for wings to help Catherine get through the ordeal.

In the first part, Catherine grapples with her brain injury as she keeps falling and dropping her favorite flower, whose name she cannot recall. The challenges of speech and communication following a stroke are vividly depicted. Catherine recalls her husband speaking to her in what sounded like a foreign language.

I found the science of the piece fascinating and the visual imagery hauntingly mysterious. Allison describes how a baby’s brain is poised for maximal growth and change and how that rate of change slows in adulthood. “We are ever changing beings; we are plastic,” the neurologist Allison explains, is key to understanding how the human brain works.

The language is most expressive when Allison explains how Catherine’s brain has changed. Allison wants Catherine to listen to her newly rewired half-brain. “It has new things to tell you about your new world. Be open, curious; it’s a rare and wonderful opportunity to redefine what is true.”

The final section is about recovery. Catherine resumes living with a new zest and appreciation for life, including time to read the Sunday paper, play Chopin, see her son drive a car, and resolve to leave work at a reasonable hour.

The workings of the human brain remain largely shrouded in mystery. Ditto for this largely obtuse theater piece.

WHAT: “Struck”

WHERE: Cleveland Public Theatre’s Gordon Square Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave.

WHEN: Through Saturday, April 6

www.cptonline.org

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