This was the inaugural production of The Living Room Playmakers! The show took place in an awesome, preserved Rogers Park mansion & traveled to different settings in the mansion for each of the three plays [1st play in the dining room, 2nd the attic, & 3rd in the basement]. I love this idea of moving to different locations during a production. It is an idea that is utilized by Theatre Hikes & a trend I shall coin Adventure Theatre. Adventure Theatre is awesome & I hope to see it flourish. I mean, it’s always awesome when a play’s opening “turn off your cellphones” speech includes instructions to bring your coat & follow the flashlight. Besides the innovative & mobile setting, The Living Room Playmakers provided intelligent, excellent, & well-executed performances in a lovely & approachable setting. Our host Alex Benjamin was engaging & articulate, the sound design by Jessy Smith was impeccable, & Daniel Immerwahr’s live music was a wonderful addition. The featured art by Jaclyn Mednicov also served as a beautiful enrichment to the theatrical productions: her paintings were a beautiful collection of industrial & apocalyptic landscapes [and reminded me of my sister’s art!].
THE DANCE LESSON
Written by Erin Austin // Directed by Alex Paul Young
Aram Monisoff as Noah // Jin You as Morgan // Helene Alter-Dyche as Portia
The premise for this piece was pretty straightforward: it is a weekday night & Noah has arranged for dancing lessons with his workaholic fiancée Morgan for their close-coming wedding. Their dance instructor, Portia, comes ready to teach them to truly dance, but what they are looking for is a way to not make fools of themselves during the first dance at their wedding. The script was concisely written & pleasantly punctuated with cool, isolated moments of a man & woman envisioning their future & remembering their past. For being a simple script set in a dining room, the production was surprisingly full. They used every inch of their performance space by entering/exiting from the front door, kitchen, living room, & the porch that anchored the back wall of the performance space. The costumes were also perfectly appropriate for the needs of script. All three actors gave pitch-perfect performances: Aram Monisoff created an open-hearted accountant who romanticized his glorious moments dancing in Carousel & Jin You played his perfectly paired fiancée who was fully committed to her man but still a driven, type-A working woman. Although they were very different, both actors communicated an appreciation for each other’s differences, despite the irritation it might occasionally cause. The highlight of this piece was Helene Alter-Dyche’s performance as Portia: in a role that could have been campy or over-acted, Ms. Alter-Dyche played a dynamic, though refreshingly quiet, eccentric. Picture Norma Desmond, but with a heart. And I really loved her main sentiment: We Don’t Dance. Until We Do.
HOUSEBOAT
Written by Chad Eschman // Directed by Erin Murray
Naomi Rosen as Ashley // Abby Zan Scwhartz as Carly
Houseboat took place in a seemingly near but disturbingly distant future where Lake Michigan is overflowing the city & some *crazy creatures* are flooding the city along with the water. Ashley & Carly are two sisters in their attic waiting for their mother to return until Carly reveals she had been *bitten* & the time has come for them to fend for themselves. This play was equally well-defined in character-development & a driving plot. I especially enjoyed the dynamic of two sisters left alone together to face a disaster. In that sense, it is a coming-of-age story where the younger sister needs to be taught how to use a gun rather than apply make-up. It is also interesting to explore how individuals have such different reactions to the same disaster; Ashley envisioned the idealized glory aspect of a disaster & suggests making a contemporary Ark to master the flood, while the Carly snapped into adulthood & grabbed the reigns to save what was left of her family. All three pieces used their respective space well, but the attic was my favorite setting. It felt like a full-set & there were moments were one could forget that this was an actual attic as opposed to a set [scenic design by Kristin Abhalter & Sarah Berkeley].
THE BRIDE
Written by J.L. Rumberger // Directed by Damon Krometis
J.L. Rumberger as The Bride
Here’s the set-up: a bride is waiting with her father at the back of a church when *something* sweeps the church & annihilates everyone. The Bride’s father shoves her out of the way & she locks herself in the church’s basement. We never learned the details of what happened or how long she has/will be in this basement, but we did get to know The Bride very well. When we first met The Bride -- sitting in her tattered dress, in a basement of white-washed brick & exposed pipes, crafting what appeared to be Amish crafts -- she seemed crazy & disjointed, but we soon realized a world ended on this woman’s wedding day. Her creepy crosses [crafted from wooden shards & strips of wedding dress] are actually makeshift grave markers for every individual she’s every known, almost making this piece the unsettling picture of the opposite of a funeral. We know what it’s like for a group of people to come together to honor the memory of one person, but what if one person is mourning the world? That’s heavy stuff. Luckily, the script was crafted cleverly with contemporary humor & a wholly-relatable character. She seemed like any bride, having ridiculous wedding day tiffs & living up Her Day; but she also could quietly break your heart her moments of relating to Castaway & slowly losing grip on her happy memories. The only play I can align this show to would be Profiles’ production of Bachelorette, but this script was written with a purpose & point that was much more relevant than the crass female frivolity that Bachelorette celebrated. This was better...
Very interesting
ReplyDelete