Nothing Gold Can Stay

The Outsiders

A literary classic can be difficult to adapt from page to stage, but the late playwright, Christopher Sergel, spent most of his career translating popular novels into theatrical works of art. Known for his adaptations of such time-honored books as WINESBURG, OHIO, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE OUTSIDERS, among many others, Sergel has gifted theater audiences by providing way to make a few select books come alive. Recently staged to great acclaim in Elgin, Illinois, Director Jonathan James has transferred his production to Chicago’s Athenaeum Theater, for a limited run.

Credited with launching the popular Young Adult genre of literature, young S.E. Hinton wrote this story back in 1967 when she was still in high school. Ms. Hinton’s literary contributions include Rumble Fish, Tex, That Was Then…This is Now and The Taming of the Star Runner, but The Outsiders was her first story and continues to be her most popular novel. The book is sometimes considered controversial because it depicts gang violence, underage smoking and drinking, strong language and dysfunctional families. While often challenged and banned in some schools and libraries, the novel is still taught in a number of literature classes.

The novel—and the play—is told in flashback by a narrator who is the main character. He’s a smart and sensitive 14-year-old young man named Ponyboy Curtis. The teenager, who reads books and likes poetry, is a member of the Greasers, a teenage gang from the wrong side of the tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After his parents were both killed in a car accident, Ponyboy’s older brother Darryl has been working two jobs, keeping house and acting as a surrogate parent to both Ponyboy and his older brother, Sodapop, who dropped out of school to work at a gas station.

Ponyboy’s best friend is Johnny Cade (called Johnnycake by his friends), a quiet, withdrawn young teenager who resides with his abusive and neglectful parents. A few months before the story began, Johnny was jumped and badly beaten by the town’s rival gang, the more affluent Socs, who live in the south section of Tulsa. Johnny still bears the scars on his face of his attacker’s rings.

That night, while at the drive-in movies, Ponyboy and Johnny gallantly stick up for two Socs girls, Marcia and her outspoken friend, Cherry. Their aggressive Greaser buddies, Dallas and Two-Bit, have tried to hit on the girls. Cherry is impressed by the kindheartedness of these two young Greasers, so the girls  decide to let the young men walk them home. Suddenly the Greaser boys are attacked by the rival gang. Bob, Cherry’s jealous boyfriend (and the guy who brutally attacked Johnny months ago) jump the boys and try to drown Ponyboy in a fountain. To save his best friend’s life, Johnny stabs Bob and accidentally kills him. With the help of their gang family, the two boys run far away to escape being arrested for murder.

The boys are told to hop a freight train and take refuge at a deserted country church, miles from Tulsa. While there, enjoying the peace and beauty of nature, Ponyboy passes the time by reading Gone With the Wind to Johnny. Early the next morning, a lovely sunrise inspires Ponyboy to recite a poem he once memorized: Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” While impressing his friend with the beautiful simplicity of the verse, Ponyboy suddenly realizes the meaning behind Frost’s poem. As the days pass, an unexpected tragedy occurs leaving Dallas, who has joined the boys, Johnnycake and, especially, Ponyboy forever changed.

Director and Executive Producer, Jonathan James, has guided a production that quite effectively tells this story of class conflict. The play unfolds in the same simple, straightforward style of S.E. Hinton’s novel. While there’s very little in the way of a traditional scenic design, the small Athenaeum stage is sparsely adorned by Mary Alice Benoit’s selective setting. It consists of only a few pieces of furniture, a couple of benches, a bucket of water that represents the fountain and a huge telephone pole, whose wires stretch far above the audience. Ms. Benoit, who’s also one of the producers of the production, is also credited with costumes, while Analisa Celeste, another producer, has styled the cast’s hair and designed their makeup. Rick Keeley’s lighting nicely delineates areas of the stage, as needed. But the strength of this production is a talented cast, whose mission is to share Hinton’s story about empathy, the nuances of class division and the violence that erupts from a community’s economic struggles.

The evening I attended this production, the large cast featured Alexander Garcia in the leading role of Ponyboy. This young actor, who’s a high school senior, shares the role with Liam Pietrzyk, at certain performances. Mr. Garcia proves to be an accomplished young actor, with a vast resume for such a young Thespian. He has a gentle manner, yet a quietly powerful way of both portraying the sensitive, 14-year-old Ponyboy and narrating the novel. Through this gifted actor, theatergoers will find themselves empathizing with a boy struggling with personal problems amidst the clash produced by the socioeconomic division in 1960’s Tulsa.

Very fine performances are also turned in by several more cast members. Portraying Johnny, the excellent young actor, Julian Rus, is the heart and soul of this production. His quiet, desperation for a life that’s far removed and different from the abuse and turmoil he experiences everyday is heartbreaking. Mr. Rus absolutely inhabits this tragic, young character with a depth typically found in an older, far more experienced actor. Julian Rus is simply sensational.

Other standouts in this cast include Austin Kinser, as Ponyboy’s older brother, Darryl; Brick Zurek, playing Dallas, one of the roughest and most easily agitated of the Greasers; Nick Pardo, who is especially strong as Greaser, Two-Bit; and Jamie McCallister, as a feisty, outspoken Socs named Cherry, who has no problem holding her own against all the testosterone in this cast.

As Jonathan James tells theatergoers in his Directors Notes THE OUTSIDERS is unique because it’s stood the test of time. Everyone, young and old, can relate to S.E. Hinton’s story in some way. It’s not simply a period piece, in the same way that ROMEO AND JULIET and WEST SIDE STORY tell a similar, timeless tale. Hopefully less violent than this play, kids still unfortunately experience and suffer from bullying. So do adults.

 Everyone, as James says, has been an Outsider at some point in his life. This universal condition makes Ponyboy’s story of a young boy’s ability to care about others and see things from someone else’s perspective so powerful. And the young man’s ultimate understanding that the poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” is a commentary on the fleeting nature of youth and life itself. This fine production, simply and artistically presented, is proof positive that S.E. Hinton’s book is still as relevant today as when it was written.         

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented September 13-October 13 by The Home Creative Company at Athenaeum Center, 2936 N. Southport, Chicago, Studio B.

Tickets are available at the box office, by going to www.athenaeumcenter.org or by calling 312-820-6250.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.