Summer Shorts 3 - Series A - 59E59

"Summer Shorts 3 - Series A" at 59E59 Theatre, August 7, 2009

In its third season (as indicated by the title of Mr. Pedantic's review here), 59E59 Theatre presents four new one-act pieces including:

• Nancy Giles' "Things My Afro Taught Me"
• John Augustine's "Death By Chocolate"
• Neil LaBute's "A Second of Pleasure"
• Skip Kennon and Bill Connington's "The Eternal Anniversary"

Ms. Giles' piece (which she also performed) felt like a CBS Sunday Morning feature that went on 10 minutes too long. She's personable and pulls few punches, but the result is an affable, if ineffective, attempt at theatre.

Mr. Augustine's "Death By Chocolate" seems to be a continuation from last year's Summer Shorts offering of "PeopleSpeak." Here we have a recent widow on her 50th birthday with a developing case of agoraphobia, a needling sister-in-law, and an institutionalized twin. Supposedly, hilarity should have resulted.

It didn't.

Mr. LaBute's offering is the most interesting of the four, mainly because it's a contemporary riff on the playlet from Noel Coward's "Tonight at 8:30" which became the film, "Brief Encounter." Margaret Colin and Victor Slezak play the lovers whose affair comes to an unexpected halt on the platform at Grand Central. Ms. Colin is lovely and nuanced, carrying easily through the bumpy transitions. Director Andrew McCarthy did well to not get in the way of such talent. Her performance alone is worth the price of admission (love you, TDF!).

The final piece, a chamber (soap) opera spins a variation on Puccini's "Il Tabarro" with a jealous chef celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary, joined by the ghost of his dead wife, whom he poisoned after suspecting her of infidelity. She ends his torture once he discovers her note explaining her absence at the time, poisoning him with his own food. The score was lovely and interesting, but the book was particularly weak, cramming too much plot and exposition into a 20 minute scene.

I'll be seeing Series B on Saturday - wish me luck!

Trapped In The 11th Grade

"reasons to be pretty" presented by MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, May 23, 2008

In his preface for this play, Mr. LaBute discloses that this is the first play he's written that the protagonist is "...one of the few adults I've ever tackled."

Well, according to Mr. LaBute, an adult is:

• Someone who still loves his girlfriend after she reads two pages of insults out loud to the food court at the mall
• Someone who stays friends with the jock bully who lies and cheats on his wife
• Someone who reads 19th Century American literature because he likes it
• Someone who lies to the jock bully's wife when she asks about his affair
• Someone who only summons the courage to beat up the jock bully after he insults the ex-girlfriend
• Someone who doesn't take back said girlfriend when he has the chance

Mr. LaBute presents some of his stock characters, the conflicted male lead (our "adult") and the misogynist bully. He also mixes in four direct address monologues from each of the four characters, Greg (Thomas Sadoski), Steph (Alison Pill), Kent (Pablo Schreiber) and Carly (Piper Perabo). The monologues felt like Mr. LaBute hadn't been able to figure out a more interesting way to provide the exposition of each. In the end, it feels like a repeat of high school. "Greg doesn't think I'm pretty so I'm breaking up with him." And hence, the melodrama begins.

As Greg, Mr. Sadoski apologizes his way through this "adult" role, giving it his best, but never able to raise the level above the script. Inexplicably, this Greg who reads Poe and Hawthorne on his midnight lunch breaks working in a grocery distributor warehouse with Mr. Schreiber's Kent, never went to college. This Kent is a classic LaBute bully, a muscle-headed man-child who still acts like he's the high school football captain dating the head cheerleader. Mr. Schreiber imbues his Kent with every taunt, insult and threat a bully reserves only for his best friend.

As Carly, Kent's wife, Ms. Perabo bemoans the downside of being pretty - warding off unwanted suitors, feeling stalked at every turn. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. In one exchange with Greg, she asks about the book he's reading. "It's Poe. It's pretty dark." he says.
She replies, "I know. It's night out." "I meant the book." he explains.

Ms. Pill plays yet another angry young woman. The play opens with an argument between her Steph and Greg following a high school-styled "he-said, she-said" exchange relayed to her by Carly. The language approaches Mametian proportions, the result of which is uncomfortable hysteria rather than exposition or character development. The talented Ms. Pill does her best with the material, but much like Mr. Sadoski, there's only so much she can do.

Director Terry Kinney also works hard with a talented cast, keeping things apace. The scene flow feels clumsy, however, bouncing irregularly through time and tripped up by the various monologues.

David Gallo's warehouse set overpowers the proceedings, distracting from the plot, though David Weiner's lighting does what it can to minimize this.

Mr. LaBute has been relatively prolific over the last several years, producing at least one new play each year. I can't wonder if a bit of focus on quality over quantity might have it merits.

From A Dark, Dark Mind

"In A Dark, Dark House" presented by MCC Theatre at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, May 19, 2007

Neil LaBute, resident playwright for MCC Theatre presents his latest effort, "In A Dark, Dark House." From the MCC Theatre's website is this synopsis (Spoiler Alert):

On the grounds of a private psychiatric facility, two family members find themselves brought face to face with each other's involvement in their traumatic past. In court-ordered rehab, Drew calls on his brother, Terry, to corroborate his story of abuse. Drew's request releases barely-hidden animosities between the two; is he using these repressed memories to save himself while smearing the name of his brother's friend and mentor? In Neil LaBute's powerful new play, these siblings must struggle to come to grips with their troubled legacy, both inside and outside their dark family home.

Dark situations, family conflict - not really new ground for Mr. LaBute in this work, but his language feels more wordy than usual. Mr. Labute seems to want a Mamet-like dialogue, but never manages to find the rythm. The result is incomfortable to hear and must be a nightmare for an actor to perform. There's also a what seems to be final revelation which I found very unclear. If I figure out exactly what it was, I'll update this review.

As Drew, Ron Livingston (better known as Berger of the break-up Post-It from "Sex and the City") feels particularly wooden. The character of Drew is practically a train-wreck and Mr. Livingston plays him in a two-dimensional daze. He musters up a bit more emotion late in the play, but at that point it's hardly believable without having seen a bit more vulnerability in earlier interactions.

Louisa Krause's Jennifer comes off as overly precocious, to me, for a 16 year old girl running her father's miniature golf course. (Maybe I need to go back and watch "Pretty Baby" or "Taxi Driver" again to see just what young girls are thought to be capable of.) Even though she's matching wits with a fully grown man, she comes off as more than just wise for her years. Perhaps it's a result of uneven writing, but the result is not totally successful.

It is Frederick Weller who carries the weigh of this play. His Terry (who, by the way, neither looks, nor sounds, nor carries himself in any way that would support the notion that he and Drew are actually brothers) is a spring wound so tightly that the audience is always on the edge of their seats wondering what will set him off and what the fallout will be. From his first entrance, followed shortly by a bit of wrestling with Drew on the hospital grounds, to his seduction (although I'm not sure who really ends up seducing whom) of Jennifer, to his mini explosions in the final scene with Drew, Mr. Weller gives us a man tortured into becoming the facade of a creepy bully.

Director Carolyn Cantor does what she can with a mostly-talented cast and a script that's not quite up to its potential. Right now, it's a long, intermissionless 90 minutes. Maybe a bit of work in the final scene can tighten things up, or at least keep one from noticing the time.

Beowulf Boritt's outdoor multi-level sets show grass sod sliced away that reveal long roots, perhaps indicative of how deep the issues go. I think his interpretation may imply more success in communicating that than Mr. LaBute's script. Ben Stanton's lighting is an appropriate complement.