A Talking Band production is to a typical scripted play what an impressionist painting is to a photograph. The plot lines are delineated, but the total picture is brought into focus through imagination and experience. Their newest work, The Door Slams, A Glass Trembles, is being presented in association with the famed experimental La MaMa. Judging from audience reaction, this is a match made in avant-guard theater heaven.
Written and directed by founding member Paul Zimet and partially inspired by Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, The Door Slams… takes place in a modern day rural family home and a pre-WWI alpine sanatorium as well as in the memory of Marc (Jack Wetherall). Over the course of multiple dinners, we learn that he and his wife Clara (Ellen Maddow) have retired to a house in the forest after having their research funding abruptly terminated. Their family — son Norm (Patrick Dunning), game-loving daughter-in-law Jenny (Amara Granderson), and unseen granddaughter Abby — are visiting for the summer. They have forged a new community of similarly frustrated neighbors (Lizzie Olesker, Steven Rattazzi and Tina Shepard). Not content with the present and with more time stretching out behind him than in front, Marc often reflects on his first love Anne (Delaney Feener) and the promising work he was forced to leave unfinished.
As with Talking Band’s previous collaborations, the story unfolds gently, with co-founder Maddow’s music, the choreography of Flannery Gregg, and lighting by Mary Ellen Stebbins playing as much of a role in the storytelling as the dialogue. The ensemble — including third co-founder Shepard — is truly a band, with many of the players from previous shows making a return. Actions are repeated but varied like a movement of a symphony. Newcomers including Dunning and Feener pick up the rhythm. Time with its patterns and alterations is central, especially as expressed by preternaturally forlorn-faced Wetherall. There are well-placed moments of triumph and humor. Politics is not the main course, but rather a scent wafting in from another room.
In Anna Kiraly’s set and video design, a few key pieces are all that is needed to convey time and space. A slanted roof shape and window define the dwelling. Rather than execute the scene changes under cover of darkness, the cast emphasizes the shifts with sound and gesture. A well constructed family table easily converts to one appropriate for a large banqueting hall. The front deck of the house is also the deck of a ship. A window displays the actual woods outside and the murky waters of the mind. Costume design by Olivera Gajic follows form with tees adorned with clever slogans swapped out for period formal attire and fancy dress.
The Door Slams, A Glass Trembles has made a providential arrival, opening in a year when for many of us the nature of time feels like it is shifting. The company’s comfort and understanding of the distinct Talking Band technique make the content flow like the waves and wind incorporated into the projections, even when the events are distressing. The World Premiere plays through May 10, 2026, at The Downstairs at La MaMa, 66 East 4th Street. Tickets ($40 General Admission, $35 students/seniors, $10 La MaMa members) can be purchased at https://lamama.org/the-door-slams-a-glass-trembles/ . Running time is 70 minutes without intermission. Due to the intimate nature of the piece, latecomers are offered stools to the side of the main seating area.
The Unforgettable Line 