Director • Translator • Playwright     

Rob Melrose

FIGHTER AIRPLANES
from the notebooks of Richard Foreman
The Cutting Ball Theater
Rob Melrose, Artistic Director
October 8 - November 20, 2004

Directed by Rob Melrose
​Produced by Adriana Baer
Set Design by Michael Locher
Costume Design by Raquel Barreto
Lighting Design by Rob Melrose
Original Music / Sound Design by Cliff Caruthers

Featuring: James S. Craft, Danielle O'Hare, Ryan Oden, and Jessa Santens

Photos by Rob Melrose

""Fighter Airplanes" -- created from Foreman's notebooks by Cutting founder Rob Melrose -- is a rare chance to see a Foreman text stripped of his mesmerizing Ontological-Hysteric Theater production values. This is Foreman without the master's rich, suggestively cluttered set installation, layered soundscape and choreographed repetitions. What remains is an intriguing, fraught flirtation between two boyishly macho American fighter jets (James Craft and Ryan Oden) -- appallingly unaware of the human effect of their actions -- and two sexy, life-affirming French "stewardesses" (the Foreman-ish stylized Danielle O'Hare and Jessa Santens)."

-Robert Hurwitt

The San Francisco Chronicle​

"A more than convincing channeling of Foreman's dreamlike style (based on a section of the playwright's notebooks), which makes the most sensible nonsense out of two war-bent jumbo jets being interrogated by a couple of sexy French stewardesses with a pacifist bent.  Melrose's attentive and insightful direction brings out the specific contours of the play, producing a lively and interesting assortment of themes and styles underscored by Michael Locher's beautifully apt scenic flourishes, Cliff Caruthers's excellently wrought soundscapes, and solid work by a charismatic ensemble”

​-Robert Avila

The SF Bay Guardian​

FIGHTER AIRPLANES - THE CUTTING BALL THEATER