"Pouring the Sun," directed by Richard McElvin, is a tribute to the hard-working families that helped build the United States. Through the eyes of one family of Polish immigrants and the narrative voice of Ludvika Waldony, the audience receives a peek into the life of an impoverished family of steel workers.
Jay O'Callahan, who wrote both "Pouring the Sun" and "The Pill Hill Stories," the titles of each act comprising the mother work "Pouring The Sun," is also the only actor of the performance. At times it is difficult to discern which character he is taking on. It is comparable to reading a novel without a label after each spoken phrase.
With practically no set - save for the backdrop image on a screen - the story relies heavily on the imagination of the audience members. Following O'Callahan's quick-paced story is the greatest challenge. Missing one moment can lead to confusion.
O'Callahan uses the first act to overwhelm the audience with an immense amount of background information concerning the Waldony family and the life they lived in Bethlehem, Penn. Mostly anecdotal, O'Callahan brings life to their memories and the defining moments in their history.
Covering the majority lifespan of the matriarch, Ludvika, O'Callahan retells the story of her departure from Poland and takes the audience through the sequence of settling in America, finding a job, meeting a husband and having children, all while doing what proves the most difficult: surviving.
The story of O'Callahan's play is generally melancholy and somber, but there are hints of humor, residing mostly in Ludvika's attitude.
Probably the most poignant theme within the play is the constant reference to hands.
"The best thing about the Statue of Liberty are her hands; they're like Grandma's hands," a young Ludvika writes to her parents upon arriving to America.
"His hands are like iron," Ludvika says of Fritz, her future husband.
The emphasis on hands is important, considering the family relies on their hands to fulfill their duties as steel workers. It is also a way to pay homage to the immigrants who helped build the most prolific structures of the era.
"Our hands are on it," Ludvika says of the New York City bridges that passed through the hands of numerous ethnicities.
While the first act leaves the audience touched by Ludvika's perseverance and O'Callahan's ability to justly honor the lives of the Waldony family, the second act revisits O'Callahan's own memories.
Growing up as Irish-Catholics in Boston, O'Callahan received some static from his Yankee protestant neighborhood. O'Callahan takes the audience back to his own childhood via his memories of his oak tree, days eating cookies, Charles Dickens' stories and his best friend.
O'Callahan's strength lies in capturing the essence of his characters. While his appearance is the same from character to character, there are changes in his voice, his mannerisms and his personality. O'Callahan not only captures the strong will of Ludvika, but he also transforms himself into her somewhat jaded husband, her defiant son and two youthful, energetic boys of his own past.
An impressive aspect of the performance is the incredible amount of information O'Callahan collected in order to properly portray the Waldony family. He becomes his characters, experiencing their work, daily lives and borrowing their memories.
In a way, O'Callahan's work is comparable to the blue flame of the steel factory that Ludvika describes.
"You see that blue flame? You live here so long it grows inside you."
"Pouring the Sun" is showing at the Studio Arena Theatre through March 13.
