RENO...
Gallant and Gutsy in the Garment District
by Rhonda Tenenbaum

Born and bred New Yorkers, tenacious tourists and those proudly transplanted from another place and time should expect to experience provocation and awe these days inside The Zipper Theatre, an intimate playhouse where “concept comedian” Reno holds court nightly as she recounts the events of September 11th in her current performance piece: Reno: Rebel Without A Pause newly subtitled ''Unrestrained Reflections on Sept. 11''.

Opening with the replaying of a September 11th telephone message left on her answering machine by a friend, we soon learn Reno, like many entertainers tends to sleep late yet with the horrors that befell that fall day, her friend almost pleads for Reno’s “awakening”.

And ‘awaken’ she does as she recounts witnessing one of the most horrific acts of terror ever conducted on American soil while living just blocks away from what has been christened “Ground Zero”. In her brash, cunning way, we see and share her pathos as she awakens us to a new political landscape- more confusing, ("Where the hell was the emergency broadcast system?") conservative and combative toward our own populace, reminding us George W., Ashcroft and Rumsfeld are attempting to rewrite The Bill of Rights.

Considered the first entertainer to use the event in a public discourse, Reno’s need to challenge the status quo is welcomed as she challenges us to want to be better, to want to challenge the powers that be... and we need her now more than ever.

Presented by Barbara Ligeti, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, David Worby, Stephen Hansen and C. Kim McCarthy. At the Zipper Theater, 336 West 37th Street, Manhattan.

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