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PHSE-flXBACA Downtown's 'Cleveland' Is A Great Place To VisitBY ARTHUR KROEBERMac Wellman%u2019s %u201cCleveland,%u201d playing at BACA Downtown this weekend, is a crisp, taut, linguistically precise and very funny send-up of American suburban society %u2014 a world, Wellman says, %u201cthat is increasingly becoming unreal, even in its own terms.%u201dBarely an hour long, %u201cCleveland%u201d follows with incisive humor the strained relations of a Trotsky ite mother (Elzbieta Czyzewska) and her prom-obsessed teenage daughter Joan (Joan Macintosh). Another plane of existence weaves in and out in which mother and daughter are rival agents for two warring moons of Neptune, Miranda and Triton. Five of the daughter%u2019s pubescent friends reappear as a black-robed cabal of female antipopes, at least one of whom is involved in a heinous conspiracy to foment, an anti-reformation through the propagation of Whispertongue %u2014 an engaging consonantal gibberish the actors deliver with great verve and rapidity.CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRECaught in the interplanetary crossfire, the Mayor of Cleveland loses his spinal fluid and is trapped in the men%u2019s bathroom of a prep school, a collapsing porch pins down a man in a foreign car, Joan gets a nerdish date to the prom, Panda Hands (Mark Austin), and the mother sits at home wistfully recalling her dead Trotskyite husband (run over in the street while trying to recover a cup of espresso that slipped out of a sidewalk cafe) and wondering how to unclog her drain.It is a credit to Wellman%u2019s ingenuity and rigor that these glistening gems of humor are strung smoothly together so that one has time to wonder about the lapses in logic. The incoherence is carefully controlled %u2014 largely through crackling, pointed dialogue dehverd with diamond clarity by an excellent and well-directed cast. Wellman has mastered the essential theatrical skill of linguistic condensation, and always produces the maximum effect with the minimum number of words. Heeven resists the temptation to overdo his wonderful made-up language, using it sparingly as a sort of staccato punctuation rather than as a self-indulgent gimmick.Director Anne Bogart, who collaborated with Wellman on %u201c1951%u201d for the New York Theatre Workshop (with many of the actors who appear in %u201cCleveland%u201d ), balances discipline with inventiveness, with delightful results. The actors%u2019 movements are terse, abrupt and stylized, mirroring the text, and she focuses attention on the characters%u2019 moods and psychological states by having the cast ignore the stage directions provided by a helpful and enigmatic Narrator (Nicky Paraiso).UNSTINTING PROFESSIONALSThe unstinting professionalism of the production is rounded out by Carol Mullins%u2019 lighting and suggestive scenery by Sarah Bonnemaison.Wellman, who lives in Park Slope, does not often allow himself to wax philosophical, and when he does it is in a sly, self-mocking way. %u201cI wanted to build a system, perfect an art,%u201d laments the exasperated narrator as he finally involves himself in the action. %u201cAnd what have I got? Out-of-control stuff!%u201d Wellman%u2019s great achievement is that he has portrayed a world out of control without losing control of his art %u2014 he has not made the confusion of modern life an excuse for theatrical and intellectual confusion. %u201cCleveland%u201d is an inspired bit of magic by a group of artists fully in command of the tools of their trade.%u201cCleveland%u201d concludes with performances on Friday, Oct. 10 and Saturday, Oct. 11 at 8pm. Tickets are $8 or $3 with TDF voucher. For more information call 596-2222.Elzbieta Czezewska (left) with JoanMacintosh as Trostskyite Mother and promobsessed daughter in Mac W ellm an%u2019sscience-fiction black comedy, \directed by Ann Bogart. (Ruby LevesquePhoto)Tides Of Immigration Shows Ebb And Flow Of ArtistsThe energy, optimism and work that transformed New York into an international city was in large part due to the city%u2019s vast influx of immigrants from all nations, beginning in the mid-19th century, says Shelly Mehlman Dinhofer of the Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn, and their contribution is celebrated in a new exhibition she has curated, %u201cTides Of Immigration: Romantic Visions and Urban Realities,%u201d which goes on view October 7.The 92 works in the show by some of America%u2019s most important artists %u201cconvey the struggles and drama faced by immigrants in their travel to the new world as well as their travails and triumphs in finding work and in creating new homes and neighborhoods that ultimately reflect their diverse cultural heritage,%u201d Dinhofer says.Presented in honor of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, the exhibition features early views of New York%u2019s original landing place for immigrants, including Jasper Francis Crospey%u2019s %u201cCastle Garden, N.Y.C.,%u201d 1851 and Alfred Copestick%u2019s %u201cNew York from the Harbor Showing the Battery and Castle Garden,%u201d 1858. %u201cThis serene site was soon overwhelmed and its function was transferred to Ellis Island, which became legendary,%u201d she says. The pictorial possibilities inherent in the immigrant story were portrayed by American artists in such sentimental genre scenes as Walter Shirlaw%u2019s %u201cThe Young Musician,%u201d 1861 and George Henry Story%u2019s %u201cStreet Musician,%u201d 1877.Lewis W. Hine%u2019s enigmatic photograph %u201cMadonna of Ellis Island,%u201d c. 1905, EdwardU a n n o r %u2019c %u201c P n lio h M n t h o r a n H / T r a v o l .ing Peasant with Baby),%u201d c. 1906-28, Joseph Stella%u2019s %u201cCroatian,%u201d 1908 and George Benjamin Luks%u2019s %u201cThe Immigrant,%u201d 1904-06 presented more realistic depictions of the nation%u2019s new arrivals.%u201cAs immigrants came in greaterW illiam Gropper%u2019s %u2018Tailor, 1940%u2019 is featured in the exhibitnumbers,%u201d says Dinhofer, %u201cthey created ethnic enclaves with exuberant street life that attracted artists and led them to define canvasses with a uniquely American ease and vibrancy.%u201d Among them in this show are Stuart Davos%u2019s %u201cChinatown,\Everett Shinn%u2019s %u201cUnder the Elevated,%u201d n.d.,n i A A l r A w o %u2019 a * * a1907 and Peggy Bacon%u2019s %u2018 Spring Fever,%u201d 1930. %u201cThese and other realist artists looked out their windows, walked the neighborhood streets and captured the essence of the multi-faceted population that surrounded them,%u201d she adds.The onset of the Depression brought a different portrayal of the urban scene as illustrated in 8 more somber light or pointed social commentary. %u201cJust as the city continued to attract immigrants, inspiring them with its opportunities, energy and optimism, it also served as a symbol to artistsm l i A f r t k A m i f i ipower,%u201d says Dinhoner, as in Alfred Stieglitz%u2019s photograph %u201cEarly New York, City of Ambition,%u201d 1910 (c. 1930 print) and John Marin%u2019s %u201cDowntown, New York,%u201d 1912.New York also acted as an inspiration for the creation of alternative, fanciful visionsof the city as in Saul Steinberg%u2019s sly %u201cNew York Skyline,%u201d 1966 and Claes Oldenburg%u2019s imaginative %u201cProposed Colossal Monument for the Battery, N.Y.C. - Vacuum Cleaner, East River View,%u201d 1965. %u201cThese evocative symbols with their metaphoric byplay give evidence of the city%u2019s continuing ability to challenge and to motivate artists and immigrants alike,%u201d she adds.Works for the Brooklyn College Museum%u2019s exhibition are being lent by Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin, Hirshhom Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Montclair Art Museum, Museum of Modem Art, New York Historical Society, Tacoma Art Museum, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and Whitney Museum of American Art among other public and private collections.TIDES OF IMMIGRATION: Oct. 7-Dec. 2. The Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn, in Brooklyn College%u2019s Boyian Hall, Room 2147, Bedford Avenue and Campus Rd. Hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10am to 5pm; Tuesday, 10am to 8pm; and Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Noon to 4pm. For information call 780-5152.Players H old'Hostage'The Gallery Players present Brendan Behan%u2019s %u201cThe Hostage.%u201d A British soidier is taken hostage by the Irish Republican Army and is imprisoned in a seedy Dublin brothel where good drink and fun between the sheets are the rule, setting the stage for this political-romantic farce.%u201cThe Hostage%u201d is showing Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm, Oct. 17 through Nov. 9 (no shows Oct. 24, 25,26, 31). At the Berkeley Carroll St. School, 181 Lincoln Place. Tickets are $6; students/seniors 85; free with TDF vouchers.O c to b e r 9 ,1 9 8 6 , T H E P H O E N IX , P a g * 15