Clash of the Nighthawks: Douglas Steinberg Vs. Edward Hopper

Nighthawks a Douglas Steinberg play is inspired by Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks," an iconic 1940s painting. This is one of the main reasons why I choose this play because I'm such a fan of Edward Hopper and "Nighthawks," especially. I saw this production on Tuesday the 19th at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. The minute the curtains were drawn the audience immediately erupted in applause. The set was so vivid in color, and the dead on resemblance to the painting really defines a great tableau. Now that they have your attention the story beginnings as the actors break the painting pose, and the story automatically starts to focus on one man. We never learn his name, he is just a customer.

He sits alone on one side of the counter, while the waiter cleans glasses. On the opposite side of the counter a man and woman sit together talking about what this man is drawing on his napkin. The counter is in a funny V shape which almost feeds the couple into the man. We learn so much about these characters in this small setting. I've heard a lot of bad reviews about this play, but I think the play captures what possibly could be going through the characters minds at that exact moment, that Edward Hopper captured.

The setting of the play is a 1940s diner in the heart of a city. It has all glass windows, that almost surrounds the whole diner. The set was very well done with real tile floors and authentic diner stools. The actors wear true to the time period costumes. They also tried very hard to add an old New York accent, but it wasn't that convincing. The lighting was perfect especially with the yellow back round it made the stage almost glow. The actors also were illuminated nicely, even though faces were often hidden. The man who the plays starts to focus on, the customer, mostly has his back turn to the audience.

This adds to his elusive behavior as he rarely talks as well. Played by Morgan Rusler the customer is the glue that holds the play together. We learn that he is a painter and it is inferred he is Edward Hopper. The man has a easel set up across the street facing the diner. The woman in the photo is Mae. Her husband is the waiter for the diner, but you would never know that from that painting, in the painting Mae who is played by Colette Kilroy sits next to man that we later learn is an old friend of Mae's. Sam played by Brian T. Finney is the man she is sitting next to. He suffers from polio so he has to wear a brace on his leg, which gives him a limp. Sam goes way back with Mae, when they use to dance at the dance hall.

As the play progresses we learn that Sam has asked Quiq, the waiter and Mae's husband played by Dan Castellaneta, if he can ask Mae out on a date. Quiq at first was shocked that Sam would even ask that question, then as he thinks about it he tells Sam, "actually it would be doing me a favor for you to take her out." Their marriage isn't picture perfect. Mae is a very hard woman to please. She reminds me of an Amanda type from Glass Menagerie, always taking about the old days, when she was so pretty and going places in life, but instead she had to take on responsibilities and raise a family, which still makes her a little bitter. Quiq on the other hand just sounds like every other waiter/owner of a diner is the 40s.

He is a nice guy with a bad temperament especially towards his wife, and he is always looking for a way to make money. The latest scam was having Sam steal beef for the diner from the hotel he works for as a bell hop. Mae hates the idea of black market meat so when she catches the boys with the meat she goes ballistic. Quiq shuts her up by telling her the real bad situation. Sam had been stealing meat that the Mob sold to the hotel.

Everything was going fine until another bell hop at the hotel saw Sam stealing meat, which then prompted the boy to start stealing himself. This then tips off the hotel who now thinks the Mob is shorting them. This brings on our most sinister character Jimmy Nickels played by Dennis Cockrum. Jimmy is a gangster. Jimmy gets word that Quid's diner has been using black market meat from the restaurant. Before intermission we finally meet Jimmy in a dialogue less scene, where he enters the diner gets cup of coffee throws it on Quid then hold a knife to his throat, until the lone customer shows up and scares Jimmy off.

Now during intermission I try to go a get a drink at the bar, but of course they will not take my hundred dollar bill. A notable Center Theatre should have change for a 100.

The second half of the play was very exciting. The characters came to life as they struggle to pay off their own debt. Jimmy has given Quid 3 weeks to get a thousand dollars or else. They save and save, but time is up and they could only get four hundred dollars. As they are waiting to see whats going to happen to them Lucy's, Mae's niece, new boyfriend walks into the diner. Clive played by Joe Fria has just started dating Lucy played by Kelly Karbacz. Mae doesn't like this new boy and thinks he is just trying to corrupt and hurt her Lucy, who she has raised since a little girl after her mom got very ill. She starts to dance with Clive in the diner when no one is there and at one point they meet lips and kiss.

Mae immediately backs off and says, "I knew it and you just fail the test I want you gone out of her life." He responds with a very cocky laugh as says, "She loves me she will do whatever I want." Mae starts to realizes how impressionable Lucy is and how he will destroy her sweet life. By this time Quid has come in and Lucy tells him to give Clive the four hundred dollars as a pay off so he will leave Lucy. Clive leaves with the money. Later Lucy returns irate because Clive had lied and told her Mae seduced him and paid him off. She leaves the diner crying to runaway with Clive. If that isn't bad enough right then Jimmy Nickels enters and the deadline is up. Jimmy Nickels looks so much like an old time gangster I would be afraid to run into him in a dark alley. He even talks with a stutter to give him a little more character.

He was by far my favorite character in the play the way Dennis Cockrum uses the old 40s accent with the stutter made me laugh hysterically. He didn't elicit the same response from his fellow characters though. They were all frightened to death at what he was going to do to them. Through the whole play Jimmy didn't know the Sam was in on it and he was the actual one stealing the meat, until now. The other bell hop Georgie ratted out Sam, and now Jimmy gives Mae the ultimatum either cut out Jimmy's eyes or break the knee caps of her niece Lucy.

At first Mae is silent and doesn't know what to say, so Jimmy starts to take Sam, but right then Mae says, "I want it to be Lucy, I want it to be." Why would she want the person she cares for most in the world to have her legs broken? Because Lucy was running away with Clive for a dancing job, and Mae knew this would be a way of stopping that from happening. The Final scene of the play is set up the same way it ends in a tableau of Edward Hopper's painting, but now we have the background of what exactly those faces are feeling as they think about what is happening to little Lucy.

Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks" leaves the door open for imagination of why these character are in this late night diner, when all the rest of the city has gone to sleep. This play offers one scenario, which I found very interesting because the grouping of the people was completely unorthodox. Nighthawks incorporates out of the box thinking, that compels your own brains to make up stories. Every time I've looked at "Nighthawks" my imagination was so limited, but this play really opened my eyes to the possibilities that art can hold.