Giving an Inch

Mr. Green Visits the Ensemble Theatre Company

by Charles Donelan

It’s never easy admitting you are wrong,
especially to a stranger. In Jeff Baron’s play Visiting Mr. Green,
an ambitious young New Yorker named Ross Gardiner hits an elderly
Jewish pedestrian with his luxury car and as punishment, the court
orders him to do community service by “visiting Mr. Green” — the
widower he smacked. Ensemble Theatre Company’s upcoming production
of the show features two veteran actors, Ben Hammer (as Mr. Green)
and Aaron Serotsky (as Ross), who will be reprising their roles
under the direction of Ensemble’s Jonathan Fox. The team has put on
Mr. Green all over the place, including Frankfurt, Germany.
Friday’s opening night promises to be an exciting one, as it marks
the area debut not only of these actors and this play, but also of
Fox, who took over the role of executive artistic director at
Ensemble in August of this year.

Hammer and Serotsky were in the lovely side garden next to the
Alhecama Theatre talking about the show when I caught up with them
last week. Without giving away any of the play’s surprises, they
each offered insight into what to expect from Visiting Mr. Green.
In response to an opening question about what it is like to come
back to the show, Hammer said, “I am doomed forever to play Mr.
Green, like James O’Neill in The Count of Monte Cristo,” referring
to the famous Irish actor (and father of playwright Eugene O’Neill)
who performed the title role in that show more than 4,000 times. A
twinkle in Hammer’s eye immediately told me that he was kidding,
and, after another remark or two about the relative benefits of
staying with a part, he began to address the question in earnest,
offering, “There are always new values, new insights — something
that comes out of the new flowers that open when you return to a
strong piece. You can’t predict what new meanings will emanate, but
you can be sure they will … at least until it runs dry, and then
you don’t do it anymore!”