Sometimes a Broadway production can catch one completely by surprise. The Encounter is just such a play. It is the story of the ‘encounter’ between a National Geographic Photographer and a ‘hidden tribe’ in the Amazon jungle. The first indications that this would be anything but normal were the headsets hanging on the back of every seat; 804 of them. I can not begin to explain how the process worked, but as the time began to pass and one shut one’s eyes, it became engrossing. Somewhat akin to listening to the radio. The story is extra-ordinary, about time, our perception of it, our use of it, our definition of life and life’s values. And my favorite subject, language. Two hours later we were released from the grip of it, to carry away what we had heard and seen. Was on the E train home and a couple got on, one half of whom reminded me of my professor friend T. He caught my eye and I saw he had a playbill in his hand. Asked him what he saw. He held it up. Unfortunately the three of us only had two stops to share our thoughts about the past two hours of what we had experienced watching The Encounter.
*based on a book by the same name.