By George Basler
Edward Allan Baker’s The Framer asks the provocative question: “If you had two weeks to live, who would you kill?” The question hangs over the play that will open Friday (April 12) for a three-weekend run at KNOW Theatre in downtown Binghamton.
“The author calls it a tragic comedy,” said Tim Gleason, KNOW’s artistic director. “It pretty much fits KNOW’s footprint. It’s going to make you laugh and then hit you hard.”
At the center of the play is a man dying of cirrhosis of the liver who is trying to make amends to his wife and family for past physical and emotional abuse. He is laboring in his framing shop to leave his long-suffering wife some financial security. But the plan gets sidetracked when his hyperkinetic, not-to-bright brother-in-law makes a disturbing request.
“It creates a moral decision,” said Gleason, who is playing the dying man. “Should I do what he wants me to do, or not?”
Other characters in the six-person play have issues of their own that become readily apparent as the action progresses. While The Framer has moments of dark humor, it has thriller elements as well, said Joe Hoffmann, who is playing the brother-in-law. Audience members will see “a tense, organic unfolding of a story about people who are desperate,” he noted.
Baker, who died in 2021, was a frequently produced New York City playwright, with more than 30 plays to his name that have been staged in the United States, Canada and Europe. He wrote for HBO and Showtime and was awarded the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Award for Theatrical Excellence by The Ensemble Studio Theatre. He taught play writing at Sarah Lawrence College and the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University.
Gleason counted Baker as a friend and has long wanted to stage the play. He showed it to Samantha Rose, who signed on to direct. Rose, a Binghamton University graduate, has directed several other mainstage productions at KNOW, including How I Learned to Drive and Becky Shaw, which was staged earlier this year.
Besides Gleason and Hoffmann, The Framer features Amy L. Smith, Annie Fabiano, Nick DeLucia and Scot Saggiomo. All have appeared in other local and regional productions.
The Framer is a play ladened with conflict, Hoffmann said. “Sometimes shows are driven by one character who’s the desperate one. In this play, something is going on with every character,” he said.
IF YOU GO: KNOW Theatre will present Edward Allan Baker’s The Framer April 12-28 at its theater, 74 Carroll St., Binghamton. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 p.m.; Sunday performances are at 3 p.m. Tickets at $25 (seniors, $20; students, $15) can be ordered through KNOW’s website, www.knowtheatre.org. There will be a pay-what-you-can performance at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18.
