2020 is a banner year all over the globe. Shorthand for seeing clearly, 20/20 means a true clarity and perfection of vision. Luna Stage has, for the first time in its history, programmed its more intimate black box space, as well as a full season on the main stage, and the American Voices series of one-person performances continues with Dipti Bramhandkar’s soul-baring “American Rookie.”
There is no doubt that we are currently living in a time of maelstrom. Energy and consequence swirl all around us and, in the most recent three or four years especially, what we used to call “respect” is now denigrated as “political correctness.” The opening story in this string of audible pearls made my heart beat faster for the peril it implies and, in the course of a bit over an hour, “American Rookie” will render you a changed person.
Bramhandkar is a woman with unerring clarity of vision that brings back, in full Technicolor, what childhood was like for those of us who weren’t Heathers. Younger folk should look for Heathers on YouTube. A larger number of us fall outside the lines where the popular kids dwell and, for Dipti, there is an added measure of wormwood. She was taken, from a happy and familiar childhood in Mumbai, to the outer reaches of Vestal, New York. As a small child, when your parents uproot you from all you’ve known, and the people whom you love, you have no choices. You must trust they are making the right decisions. Did they? You’ll need to hear the story to decide.
If you are someone who grew up in the time Dipti describes, you will resonate with the images, the memories, sights and sounds. For those who did not, she paints such a detailed picture that you may feel like you’re peering in a window at her life. And if it sounds like I’m being very familiar using the playwright and performer’s first name, I challenge you not to do the same by the time she’s said her final piece.
Get your tickets now by visiting https://www.lunastage.org today. This show closes on January 27, you owe it to yourself to hear the latest “American Rookie.”