The Hairy Ape

Matteo Scammell and Ensemble

EgoPo Classic Theater is wowing audiences with its final production of the season, Eugene O’Neill’s here-to-fore little known The Hairy Ape. It can be experienced at The Latvian Society, 531 North 7^th Street through April 26. O’Neill was considered to be one of the first playwrights to create characters that are trapped on the fringe of society and Matteo Scammell, as Yank, offers us a profoundly moving picture of such a character. “You don’t belong but I do,” he fumes to anyone who will listen; the upper-class daughter of a steel magnate, an older member of the firemen crew, a union rep for the working class, animals in the zoo. "You don't belong but I do," and yet, as he begrudgingly discovers, he doesn’t.  This production is a very physical and challenging one not only for Yank, but for the entire ensemble as well.   From climbing up poles to acrobatics on stage, everyone displays clear talent. Members of the audience are also fiercely tested, as they become engrossed in the hushed whispers and quiet singing of the ensemble, only to be forced to shift gears when presented with drunken comradery and raucous squabbling below the bowels of the ship. Through it all, the one remaining constant is Yank’s abysmal solitude and his inability to change society’s views of him. Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape has rarely been seen. Don’t miss your opportunity to see the gem that EgoPo has produced.  For more information or tickets, call 267-273-1414 or visit online at www.egopo.org.