What a difference an intermission makes. After the first two plays at Vital Theatre's New Works Festival, the audience seemed resigned to settle into their seats and wait out what looked to be a long night of tepid theater. The next three plays, however, were so skilfully written and expertly acted that they jolted the room to life.
The first play, Ethan Kanfer's Out of Uniform, is the moderately entertaining story of a student who falls in love with her female teacher. Although Eve Austin and Erin Carey handled their tasks well, they couldn't overcome the stilted language, which sounded written rather than spoken. Kanfer's dialog had both teacher and student speaking in successive sentences that might appear grammatically correct on the page but sank when in the mouths of the actresses.
If Uniform veers toward the overwritten, Anthony Giunta's Crossing Guard steers head-on into the verbose. In Guard, a troubled young woman meets an otherworldly visitor who dispenses a litany of new-agey advice such as "Look inside yourself," "We never know what's in another person's heart," and "The choices you make at 15 are different from the ones you make at 30." After spouting such cliches, the ghost directs the girl to close her eyes and think deeply. The merit of such counsel may be debatable, but there can be no question that to watch someone on stage silently thinking makes for a static, actionless play.
After intermission, Andrea Lepcio's Whodunit snapped whatever lukewarm expectations had been set. Her tale of a young woman who goes searching for a man who may or may not be her father is smartly plotted and features dialogue both wry and punchy. The exchanges between David Butler and Amy Hargreaves not only highlighted the talent of these two actors but proved that a few words written with skill and care will always beat a dozen tired phrases slapped together.
Robert Moulthrop's The Dark Side of the Moon is the uncompromising story of parents who suffer the death of their young daughter, then struggle to find someone to blame for the horrible event. Barbara Helms, Michelle Fulves, and especially Greg Skura delivered powerful performances in a multi-layered drama that explored the facets of forgiveness, anger, and sorrow. In addition to the accomplished writing and acting, Laura N. Stevens's direction helped hone the complex story to a jagged, unforgiving edge.
Man Woman Dragon, Mark Loewenstern's wacky fairy tale of a bumbling knight, more-than-willing, maiden and smart-aleck dragon, is a merry yarn that ceaselessly spits out whimsical one-liners. "Put your claws down and step away from the damsel!" Tom Biglin called as he rushed to the aid of Abby Lindsay, who was soon unsure if she needed or wanted saving from Brandon Bart's sassy dragon. The mischievous, high-energy play delivered nearly nonstop laughs.
Vital Theatre has three winning plays on its hands. If the second week is any indication of the rest of the five-week program, audiences are in store for quite a few more nights of fresh, quality theater...as long as they stay past intermission.
(Also featuring Hannah Dalton and Trish Valerio in Crossing Guard.)
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Out of Uniform |
Crossing Guard |
Whodunit |
The Dark Side of the Moon |
Man Woman Dragon |
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Copyright 2001 Ken Jaworowski