Theater Review: 17 Border Crossings

There’s something to be said for theater productions that have bare stages with minimal props and are still successful at telling a full, engaging, and evocative story: it’s a little bit magical. That is exactly what happens in Thaddeus Phillips one-man play, 17 Broader Crossings, at the New York Theatre Workshop.

Phillips, as The Passenger, is on a bare stage with only a table, a chair, and a long, horizontal, movable bar of light for the duration of the ninety-minute long play (Phillips is also the scenic designer); he is able to bring audiences along as he travels, from 1991 to present day, by train, plane, chairlift, sea, tunnel, moto-taxi, bridge, the mind, by sound, river, and ferry across borders and around the globe.

The ingenious use of those three props delightfully create the motorbike The Passenger rides in Columbia; the light pulled low with chair below it create a train car, and the table sideways on the ground creates a bird’s eye view of a border office in Bali. Allowing the audience to use their imagination to transport them to all these places is one of the most delightful things about 17 Border Crossings. He also seamlessly weaves in and out of different languages and personas building a number of different characters.

That’s not to say 17 Border Crossings rests on his shoulders alone. There is also director Tatiana Mallarino, lighting design from David Todaro, and sound design Robert Kaplowitz that help bring this story to life.

While each vignette of travel is entertaining–and further proof that borders are inherently arbitrary political lines–you spend the play waiting for something big to happen. It never really does. The Passenger is simply a witness, sharing travel anecdotes. There are, however, a few poignant moments that could be considered commentary on borders and immigration (legal and illegal) today that really stick out: an Angolan man who tried to get to the UK by hitching a ride in the cargo area of a plane; the Syrian girl who just arrived to Greece via boat; or the Palestinian family who used tunnels from Egypt to order KFC.

It really all comes down to this: by the end of the show, you’ll marvel at the staging and Phillips performance using props and how he could transport you with his storytelling.

17 Border Crossings is playing at the New York Theatre Workshop. Click here for more information and tickets.

Photo Credit: Johanna Austin