A former architecture student puts away his drafting board and sets his sights on the stage. In the following report, NY1's Donna Karger takes a look at the off-Broadway production "Private Jokes, Public Places."

With all the controversy surrounding the plans for the World Trade Center site, architecture has been a hot topic in the news lately. So it's no surprise to find the subject of architecture resonating strongly on stage in the new off-Broadway production "Private Jokes, Public Places."

Oren Safdie's "Private Jokes, Public Places" tells the story of a Margaret, a Korean-American architecture student who faces harsh criticism as she presents her final project before a jury of powerful and highly opinionated professionals.

“This play is very much not only about architecture,” says Safdie. “I think architecture is the background, but it's really about standing up for what you believe in even in the face of critics or any kind of criticism you go through, even family criticism.”

Safdie is no stranger to standing up for what he believes in. Son of the internationally renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the playwright initially followed in his father's footsteps, attending Columbia University Architecture School.

But in his last semester, Safdie decided to break with tradition. He entered a competition for one-act plays and won with a short work that eventually grew into "Private Jokes, Public Places."

“The whole jury system in architecture was very interesting and very dramatic, even though it was a theoretical thing,” says the playwright. “Also, two years ago I had this play that kind of got a little knocking here and there, and it drove me to connect the two of being in a jury in architecture school when you’re presenting your final project, and the same when you're presenting your play. You're open to a lot of criticism.”

“Private Jokes, Public Places" takes on an added personal meaning for Safdie, whose wife M.J. stars as architecture student Margaret.

“When I started writing the play, the character of Margaret wasn’t Asian to begin with, but I found that by creating this character from a different background than her western, European and American jurors, it kind of brought up another contention of race. There is also a female and three males, so it kind of created more tension.”

For M.J., Margaret represents two generations of Safdies.

“I think Margaret is very pluckish, and I think Oren is too. He’s very stubborn,” she says. “I actually do see my husband as well as Moshe in it, because Moshe's architecture is very much for the people. So I guess that genuine concern of what kind of environment he want to create or people want to create is really part of this play.”

With its own environment full of philosophical riffs on contemporary culture, non-conformity, and what makes a structure stand the test of time, "Private Jokes, Public Places" takes on many different faces, bringing a comical and disturbing look at the microcosm versus the macrocosm.

"Private Jokes, Public Places" is currently playing at the Center for Architecture in Greenwich Village.

- Donna Karger