"CURTAIN CALLS" #261
By Pat Launer
10/17/08
In bash, the Mormons are
quite benighted;
In
Get bashed…
THE SHOW: bash: the latterday
plays, the breakout (1999) theater work of “Bad Boy” Neil LaBute,
whose films have also created quite a stir (especially “In the Company of Men,”
1997, and “Your Friends and Neighbors,” 1998). The Mormon Church, of which he
became a member while a student at BYU, “disfellowshipped”
him (not quite an excommunication) after the drama premiered. He left the
Church not long after.
THE STORY: The
play is a trio of one-acts, each a brief confessional inspired by Greek myths.
The central characters all seem to be decent, middle-class Mormons. But as they
stare unblinkingly at the audience (we stand in for a Vegas hotel pickup in one
scene --“I figured you’d be a great listener”; a police investigator in
another; a friend in a third) and tell their tales, the onion gradually peels
away, as it so often does in LaBute’s disturbing and
disarming dramas, and what’s left are heinous, murderous acts, unceremoniously
described and enacted. There’s no real sense of remorse or redemption here. LaBute’s characters are soulless, amoral. He plumbs the
darkest recesses of the human soul, and what he finds is never pretty. There’s
anger, rage and resentment buried deep within, and it doesn’t take much to
bring it out. As LaBute sees it, absolutely anyone is
capable of stumbling over the line between good and evil.
“Iphigenia in
In “Medea Redux,” a
young woman raises a boy fathered by her high school teacher – when she was 14.
Just when her son turns 14, she figures it’s time to get back at the guy who
seduced and abandoned her -- in a dreadful and deadly way.
The title of “A Gaggle of Saints” refers, presumably, to Latter Day
Saints, in this case, a bunch of college kids from
The PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: bash is running in repertory with In a Dark Dark
House, which has a rather elaborate, grassy, outdoor set. On top of that
bucolic setting, director/designer Glenn Paris has placed a raised, square
Plexiglas platform, kind of an opaque/transparent chessboard (bishops and
pawns? darkness and light?). Behind the simple Plexiglas chairs are projections
that fall on a screen, and on the actors. Very effective in
both productions.
Brian Mackey and Rachael Van Wormer just keep getting better and better
with every production. She’s terrific in Dark
House, and here she’s wonderful as the decidedly more solemn, jaded mother
and the cheerful, clueless girlfriend. Mackey puts on sobering specs to become
the murderous MBA family-man and dons a tux to talk about his fling in
THE LOCATION: ion theatre, in repertory with In
a Dark Dark House, through 11/1
THE SHOW: Waiting to be Invited, the first play by S.M. (Sherry) Shephard-Massat,
who won a Helen Hayes Award for Starving
in 2006. This one’s clearly a freshman effort.
THE STORY: Based in both
personal and national history, the play concerns four
middle-aged, churchgoing, African American,
The play features realistic, often humorous dialogue, but it gets off to a slow start and never really arrives at a
definitive destination. The women banter with each other, with an affable
African American bus driver, and with an addled white woman on the bus. We see
that racism is insidious, and subtly cuts in both directions. But there’s no
conflict in the piece till the second act, when the first three women meet up
with Ms Ruth, the fourth member of their indomitable group, the pastor’s wife
whose negative attitude masks a nearly paralyzing fear. Then the real concerns
(and some ugly backstories) come out, as we learn of
the dread each of them harbors: that they won’t be served, they’ll be spat upon
or jailed, they’ll be charged five times the normal price, or their food will
be poisoned. That’s when the real story kicks in. How terribly, painfully hard
it was for these courageous women and folks like them to take the first step
into a new world. In the second act,
each character begins to represent a different reaction to fear. Finally, one
steps forward to be the leader. But the end is left to the imagination. Still,
this is an important piece of our history, and in this political season, when
racial issues are rearing their hideous heads again, the timing couldn’t be
better.
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: The Common Ground production was constrained in
design, since the ECC space has to be used during the week for other purposes.
So the set had to be maximally mobile and portable. Matt Scott creates magic
with a simple and suggestive set, featuring a bus stop and several other
playing spaces, with a wonderfully creative ‘bus’ as centerpiece, all backed by
evocative projections of downtown Atlanta. Jason Connors provides a suggestive
sound design, with songs like Sam Cook’s era-defining “A Change is Gonna Come.” Jan Mah’s costumes,
white dress-up outfits and prim gloves, sartorially match each woman’s
personality.
The cast is earnest and generally effective. We first meet Ms Delores
(Ida L. Rhem), Ms
The play leaves us unsatisfied. We never see the four gutsy women enter
the building; we never know how they were treated. We, like they, are left out
on the curb, wondering.
THE
LOCATION:
NEWS AND VIEWS
… Turn over a new leaf…
Write Out Loud, the unique company
that presents classic short stories, read-aloud, is offering "Turns and Leaves," tales and poems
about autumn. The
works will be read/performed by
writeoutloudsd@gmail.com.
… Get off on “Off-Nights,”
.. Pay Tribute to a
prominent San Diegan… when the Playwrights Project honors its
influential founder/artistic director with the first annual
… Speaking of
playwrights, Swedenborg Hall has announced 2009’s Playwright in
Residence,
Opening this weekend at
Swedenborg is a reprise production of George Weinberg-Harter’s comic
Shakespeare adaptation, a Tempest-meets-‘Gilligan’s
… News from the front…
There will be two readings of Yank!,
the new musical that was such a hit at Diversionary Theatre last July, on
November 10 at the York Theatre Company, a group that
earned a special Drama Desk Award for developing new musicals. This time,
composer Joseph Zellnik will be playing his own score (for the first time in
four years!). And the cast features
SDSU alum Ivan Hernandez, last seen here in the title role of Zhivago at the La
Jolla Playhouse (2006).
http://www.yorktheatre.org/Reading%20Series.htm
DANCE CORNER…
... Walk like the Animals… San Diego Ballet opens its 2008-2009
season with Carnival of the Animals, featuring the music of Camille
Saint-Saens, with surprising additions -- world music from Argentina, South
Africa, Brazil, Trinidad and the Netherlands. Choreographer/artistic director
Javier Velasco explains: "I decided to add some animals… For instance,
there is a lion … [who dances to] a South African version of ‘The Lion Sleeps
Tonight.’ Of course, I am keeping the ‘Aquarium’ music, which is played on a
glass harmonica, and the most famous of the pieces, The Swan. Not The Dying Swan. She only dies when the piece is performed as
a solo. So, same music, but no death. Good
times." Oct. 24-25, in the Lyceum Theatre. 619-544-1000. www.sandiegoballet.org.
…Take a Shine to Stella Nova…
'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)
bash and In a Dark, Dark House – dark,
disturbing dramas, extremely well performed
Ion theatre, in
repertory with bash, through 11/1
Waiting to be Invited – a flawed play, a variable production, but an important piece of
history
Fool for Love - wonderful performances; still-provocative play
The Light in the Piazza – beautiful, lush, luscious and romantic
Lamb’s Players Theater,
through 11/2
Tobacco Road – set during the Great Depression, the play is chilling in its
relevance. Flawed production, but some fine performances
The Women – elegant, glamorous and backbiting; sheer delight!
The Old Globe Theatre, through 10/26
Boomers - you gotta love it, even if you aren’t one.
Fabulous band, super songs, high-energy performances
Lamb’s Players at the
Horton Grand Theatre, an open-ended run, now selling through 12/3
Do something really spooky this month – go
to the theater!
© 2008 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.
For nearly 25 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in