Crossing the Line: the Vultures September 26, 2008

A father's heart attack, a fortune suddenly up for grabs and an otherwise peaceful family left to fight like animals for the spoils -- it's 'The Vultures', a play by the little-known nineteenth-century French writer Henri Becque, resurrected in English for a reading on American soil. Leading an all-star cast of New Yorkers, two-time Obie Award-winning director Jim Simpson (Flea Theater) brings a downtown sensibility to a story rife with the spirit of Ibsen. Through mere naked text and the powerful performances behind it, a caustic indictment of Industrial Age mores becomes a cautionary tale for our own.