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On the eve of Saigon's
fall in 1975, a |
Willamette Week, 1997: 'Patterson has captured this moment completely. His characters
are of bone and blood, and his writing is assured and potent. He masterfully
marshals the slang of grunts and hacks, which brings great authenticity to
this tale.'
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Portland Vanguard, 1997: 'Patterson's writing is intense,
sharp, and witty; the characters seem very realistic.... Waiting on Sean
Flynn is an excellent play, not just for theater connoisseurs but for anyone
interested in the tension that is created by a brilliantly written piece.' Willamette Week, 1994: '...dark, wounded, obsessive...the thoughtful, complex show
works well....' |
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Portland Oregonian, 1997: 'Patterson's drama effectively captures the atmosphere of |
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- Requiem, a tribute to the photographers who died covering the Vietnam War. Written by Tim Page and Horst Faas.
- Newseum, a
- Luck, Initiative, and the Internet, a piece about Flynn's genesis that I wrote for the Northwest Playwright's
Guild.
Liberation
A newspaper office in Sarajevo is held hostage by an army deserter who has witnessed systemic atrocities by Serb forces. Full length two-act drama. Six women, six men. March-April 1999, Stark Raving Theatre, Portland, Oregon. Recipient of a production grant by the Flintridge Foundation. April 2003, Rude Guerrilla Theatre Company, Santa Ana, California.
- The Willamette Week's splendid 1999 preview.
- Lost in Sarajevo with snipers drawing a bead on your press tags? Quick, turn to the Sarajevo Survival Map.
- Journalist Kurt Schork did such a good job covering
the siege of Sarajevo that the city named a street after him. Sadly, in
2000, Schork was killed covering fighting in Sienna Leone. By all
accounts, he was one of finest journalists to work in the field and a
great humanitarian. Here's one of his most memorable
pieces from
- The Sarajevo Diaries, a day-by-day account of getting supplies into the besieged city.
- Rude Guerrilla Theatre, where Liberation opened in April 2003.
- Kosovo Editorial
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Orange County
Register, 2003: It's
[also] a feather in Rude Guerrilla's cap that its staging at the Empire
Theater in downtown Santa Ana is only "Liberation's" second full
production. It isn't the first time (nor will it be the last) that the folks
at Rude G have gone out on a limb with an Orange County, regional, West Coast
or U.S. premiere of a play dealing with life's harsher issues. It's been more
than five years since the troupe set up shop, and it has lived up to its
mission of providing alternative, "in your face" theater worthy of
serious debate, by playwrights such as Mark Ravenhill, Sarah Kane, Ronald
Harwood, Ping Chong, Terence McNally, Wendy Mac Leod, Ted Talley and Brad
Fraser. Add Steve Patterson to that list. |
Portland Oregonian, 1999: 'Patterson excels in calling up the atmosphere of anxious times in distant places....'
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Theatre2K.com, 2003: More
than any other quality, "Liberation" conveys the despondency and
resignation of life in wartime; its characters feel deadened by degrees. Everyone
has a story ("we are pincushioned with stories," Ismail ruefully
notes) of seeing people killed, or shellshocked or maimed. The play's first
and last lines come with a signature irony -- one of the only good weapons
left. There's little happiness in "Liberation". It's a heavy, often
grueling play. It's also a good one. Wallfour.com, 2003: All in all, the show is so powerful
that it moves through you as its scenes fly by. But as an audience member,
you may not walk out of a performance of Liberation feeling liberated, the
show inside is so encompassing that it is hard not to take it home with you. |
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Los Angeles Times,
2003: Director
Jody J. Reeves and nine actors bravely commit themselves to a story by
Portland, Ore., playwright Steve Patterson that graphically depicts the
devastation of artillery and arms fire. Copious amounts of fake blood have
soaked through clothing and spilled onto the floor by the time this gritty
presentation is over. ...he makes a strong statement about the power of
information. His story is painful to witness, but it certainly resonates. |
KATU-TV Citysearch, 1999: 'Escalating tension
is leavened by refreshing bits of gallows humor, and Patterson's powerful
tale of humanity and survival soars.... Through the very human story of
"Liberation," Steve Patterson displays heart, intelligence, and a
gift for storytelling; he easily engages the audience with his microcosm
comprised of worldly intellectuals and everyday working people.' |
Backstage West, 2003: Politics, money, religion, power.
The forces and circumstances that lead men to war are many and varied. But
the devastating human cost of war never changes. That's the stark and
visceral truth that's communicated in this Steve Patterson drama, which
reminds us of the terrible atrocities committed during the early 1990s war in
Bosnia. |
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Willamette Week, 1999: 'With American bombs
falling on Belgrade this past week, Steve Patterson's latest play is required
viewing. Patterson has set the action in Sarajevo, site of the last round of
European slaughter. Liberation is the story of a band of journalists
holed up in what's left of their newspaper offices, determined to keep the
press running. Befitting their city, they're a cosmopolitan crew of Croats,
Muslims and Serbs who strive to co-exist. But when a defecting Serb soldier
and his sister take refuge at the paper, relationships and allegiances become
strained. It's a good, substantial theme, and Patterson has done an excellent
job in realizing this world. His writing is fluid for the most part, and he
brilliantly captures the war's ironies and the gallows humor of the
characters.' |
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Depth of Field
Depth of field is a work in
progress. A two-act drama about George,
a celebrated war photojournalist who comes back physically and spiritually
wounded from covering anarchic civil war in West Africa, Depth of Field
explores…
Links….
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