"Now what?" asks Daena Giardella in the intimate space of the Nexus Theater - a question many of us have probably been asking ourselves since the attacks on Sept. 11. Though she never provides the audience with a direct answer, Giardella is able to successfully get the audience to think about what has been going on in the world and hopefully provide it with some answers to this question.
Giardella opens and closes the evening with appropriate songs performed by her guest musicians; the rest of her performance is filled with laughter, touching moments and thoughts. Her one woman show, Now What?, deals with the questions many have been asking, the fears many have been feeling, and the emotions we may not have come to terms with. Her performance is remarkable, bringing to light many issues that are often left unexamined.
The show opens with the always-enthusiastic Giardella bounding onto the stage and talking to the audience. She aims to establish a good rapport with the audience and wholeheartedly begins to run a series of polls about the audience.
"Who feels good this evening?"
"Who has just had a fight with their significant other before they came here?"
"Who is still annoyed because they couldn't find parking in Davis?"
"Who here voted for George Bush?" ...except this time no hands rose.
Giardella urges the crowd to be comfortable with who they are and admit to what they have done in this safe environment. At Saturday's show, some hands slowly came up as the audience enthusiastically applauded.
This kind of interaction with the audience is what defines Now What? The show is an interactive pastiche of just about everything imaginable. Giardella is enacting a monologue for three hours, but the time flies. She changes from persona to persona, often criticising, often bringing up sensitive issues. She parodies America's obsession with the news along with America's endless fear of anthrax. She puts a voice to the way many of us may feel: confused about the recent events, sitting on the fence because we just don't know what to believe in this chaotic time. You could be laughing one minute while the next you could be about to cry - the performance is that diverse.
Various characters come to life during the performance: a mother who lost her son on Sept. 11, a woman who lost her twin sister, a Jewish woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp. Giardella intertwines these with the more light-hearted impressions of the president and his wife. The performance is thoroughly diverse and constantly changing, keeping the audience on its toes the entire time.
Two musicians accompany Giardella, and they change each weekend of the performance and provide an excellent addition to the show. Though they are mostly in the background, they come in where appropriate to provide music and sound effects that effectively add to the ambience of the performance.
Giardella has been performing improvisational theater for over 20 years. Her work has been seen at the World Symposium on Humanity in Toronto, the UN Conference on Women in Copenhagen, the Susan Delal Center for Dance and Theatre in Tel Aviv, and on other stages world-wide. Her current show draws from this improvisational background; she continually interacts with the audience and throws in different pieces from breaking news. Saturday night included a reflection on the death of George Harrison.
There is no doubt that this performance affected all who came to see it, as evinced by the standing ovation Giardella and the musicians received at the end. She speaks directly to the hearts of the audience - either by expressing emotions of fear, anger and sadness that some of us have not fully expressed about this tragedy, or through her social messages. Giardella is without a doubt an intriguing performer, and her show one that is well worth seeing.
Daena Giardella's Now What? continues at 8 p.m. on weekends through Dec. 14 at the Nexus Theater in Davis Square, next to The Burren. Call 617-623-1209 for more information.
