A collection of past and present Rye educators and students has reunited to bring to the stage a play written by Rye teacher George Krajca that had its debut at the New York Theater Festival.
The play, “Canto250,” stars two former Rye students and was directed by a former Rye Middle School counselor.
“When I sent this out, I was just hoping for a table read and maybe some feedback,” recalled Krajca, a 27-year veteran of the Rye City School District. “Instead, I was offered an opportunity by the New York Theater Festival to stage it.”
The main character is played by Penelope Nazra Deen, a Rye High School alumna (class of 2017), who also serves as producer. Noam Ben Yakir, RHS class of 2013, performs as well. The director is Peter Green, a former Rye Middle School social worker who retired after 15 years with the district.
“Canto250” tells the story of a young lawyer, played by Deen, who represents President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (aka DOGE) and arrives at the chaotic apartment of a 75-year-old artist. Scott Schneider, a veteran teacher at North Rockland High School brought in by Green, plays the artist.
The lawyer demands that the artist change a 250-section mass media poem he wrote on American history — his life’s work — or lose National Endowment for the Arts funding that had been promised to him by the previous administration. What follows touches on several major and current themes: What is the importance of history and art in society? What do we owe an artist who holds up a mirror so we can see ourselves?
Krajca is making his debut as a playwright. He wrote the original draft after 9/11, when the NEA had stalled. That draft sat in a drawer until DOGE was created and announced that the second year of NEA grants would not be paid.
“I thought, I really would like to say something about that, and then realized, ‘oh, I already have this manuscript,’” he said. “I sat down, dusted it off, and thoroughly researched it. One of the things that I’m proud of is that every bit of information in it is accurate.”
Having the play performed was the next step, and the Rye team came together serendipitously. Krajca had taught Deen in high school, and she had recently returned from a tour performing in India. She had sent a LinkedIn request to Krajca just as he was looking for a cast.
Would she be willing to work with him?
She didn’t have to think twice.
“It was honor to have Mr. Krajca as a teacher in high school,” said Deen, 27. “He challenged my brain and pushed me in ways that were wonderful, that I still think about to this day. He was never an ordinary high school teacher.”
So how did it feel reconnecting with her teacher?
“Exhilarating, earth-shatteringly wonderful!” she said.
Deen in turn suggested Green, who had directed her in RHS productions.
“It’s a fascinating play and I was really tickled when they both brought it to me,” Green said. “The reason I do theater is because I’m interested in work that raises levels of empathy, that says to an audience, ‘This is what it is to be human.’ I think this play has compassion for both characters. Whatever your politics are, you can still see the humanity in the person who you might think of as the enemy…. If we’re not going to pay attention to our humanity, then we may just as well be widgets.”
Green brought in Ben Yakir, 31, who plays an agent from New York City Adult Protective Services who gets involved in the case. It was a reunion for Green and Ben Yakir, who have known each other since Ben Yakir was in sixth grade.
The New York Theater Festival offers aspiring playwrights a chance to self-produce their work, providing access to a stage, sets and props, and audio, light, and visual systems. Krajca decided to make the investment, because “I wanted to have the experience. I think theater is magical. It’s one of our shared sacred spaces.”
There are up to $8,000 in cash prizes, but Krajca is not focused on that. What he hopes is that audiences come away from the play considering both sides of the argument.
“It’s important that we recognize that dialogue should be sacred,” he said. “The most fundamental thing that art offers us is the ability to complicate our understanding of the world, examine ourselves, and not seek easier answers. The main character’s point in the work he’s trying to create about American history is that we have a complex and beautiful history, and we shouldn’t simplify it. We should get into long conversations about it, and those don’t need to be contentious conversations.”
Krajca is grateful to Rye for helping him realize his dream.
“One of the magical things about either living or working in Rye is you’ve got access to so many people, so many connections,” he said. “When I was not sure how to proceed, it was interesting to me that the solution to staging this was right in front of me: It was the Rye community. I’m very grateful to be part of the Rye community as a teacher, but to get this kind of support from members of the community to make something happen like this is overwhelming.”
