Department Of Complaints

We aim to cover all the most important arts events taking place in the area. Here's a note one reader sent in frustration about the lack of attention one local production received.

Hello Geoff Edgers,

I was disappointed that The Globe did not choose to review "Struck Dumb" which has its final performance today at the Boston Center for the Arts. Joseph Chaikin's and Jean-Claude van Itallie's classic one-character play about a man living with aphasia, a communication disorder, is astonishing.

Gene-Gabriel Moore, a stroke survivor, brilliantly portrays Adnan, who derives joy and wonder in everyday sights, sounds, and words despite his aphasia, which resulted from a stroke. One might think this would make the play difficult to follow and inaccessible to theatregoers, especially those living with aphasia. On the contrary, the production is made even more accessible by the imaginative staging, which features a display of images and text on the back wall of the BCA Black Box.

This is the kind of theater that should have been sold out for every one of its five performances (Friday evening's performance was cancelled due to the snowstorm). Instead, seven people attended the Saturday matinee, two attended that evening, and Wednesday and Thursday's audiences were sparse as well, despite the modest ticket price and a pay-what-you can policy on Wednesday night. I don't understand why some of our finest theatre is so under-promoted. I'm not sure if the problem is with the BCA, the media, the public, or the weather. It's probably all of the above.

Jerome Kaplan, Director
Aphasia Community Group of Boston