Lisa Kron - Major Works

Major Works

Kron's major works to date are 2.5 Minute Ride and Well. Both are critically acclaimed autobiographical plays. 2.5 Minute Ride blends a trip she took with her father Walter to Auschwitz, the scene of his parents extermination by the Nazis and her family’s annual trip to an amusement park in Ohio. Kron says in the introduction to her play: “Humor and horror are juxtaposed and you might not know for a second whether you are at Auschwitz or at the amusement park. The show does not tell you when to laugh and when to be solemn. The response is up to you.”

The play recounts her father's remarkable experiences: "When my father… heard that his parents had been sent to Auschwitz, he immediately tried to order a ham sandwich, to distance himself from Judaism. But he couldn't. He'd say to the waitress, 'Um . . . tuna fish.' "

Kron also reflects on looking at a poem on exhibit during their trip to Auschwitz: “I repeat the words that have undone me.’ People burn people here.’ ” One of the most memorable scenes in the play is when her father tells her about the death of her grandparents at Auschwitz:

…I don't think I accepted it until a few years ago, in Lansing. It was the winter and it was so cold and I was shivering…And I realized this would only happen to them once. They were old and they stood outside, lined up in the cold and they were of no use to anyone and they were killed…

Well explores her mother Ann’s experiences with social activism and illness, The play uses physical illness as a metaphor for social “illnesses” such as racism. Kron’s description of Well: “A multicharacter theatrical exploration of issues of health and illness both in the individual and in a community.” Kron describes her mother:

My mother is a fantastically energetic person trapped in an utterly exhausted body…when she has a burst of energy it’s awe inspiring. For instance, when we were very young she decided she wanted my brother and me to be raised in a racially integrated neighborhood, and then she set about to create one.

Both works have been very well received, 2.5 Minute Ride, directed by Mark Brokaw, won an Obie award among others. Well was anthologized in Best Plays of 2003-2004, listed among the year's best plays by the New York Times and received two Tony Award nominations. Ben Brantley says of 2.5 Minute Ride: “(it)… puts Ms. Kron on a level with sterling monologists like Spalding Gray, autobiographers who combine novelistic complexity with stage-smart impudence.” Michael Sommers says of Well: “Truly a beautiful play in many ways, Well paints a mother-and-daughter picture of rich, unusual artistry.”

The first college performance of Well occurred in the winter of 2008 at Kalamazoo College, Kron's alma mater. It starred a group of students as well as local professional actress Sharon Williams. Kron traveled to Kalamazoo for the week of the run, participating in "Lisa Kron Week in Kalamazoo" which, besides Well, included a performance of the Five Lesbian Brothers' "The Secretaries" as well as a public reading in which she read excerpts from all three of her works in addition to one of the pieces she is currently working on.

The world premiere of Kron's play In the Wake opened at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles March 28, 2010. Leigh Silverman (who also directed "Well") directed. The play is about a family gathering set just after the presidential election of 2000. The main protagonist Ellen deals with the political turmoil as well as upheaval in her personal life. Charlotte Stoudt describes In the Wake: "Kron's comedy of deprecation and provocative social critique is part Sedaris, part Kushner, yet utterly her own."

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