The Whale - The Unicorn Theatre

The Whale was beautifully done and masterfully written. It was difficult to stomach, at times, so be prepared if you have a weak gag reflex. One of the audience members next to me almost lost it during on of the more graphic scenes dealing with food. 

We all have addictions. It can be food, drugs, religion, alcohol or smoking. Our addictions take a toll on us physically, and the pain we feel we try to control chemically with a variety of methods. The Whale explores all of this, along the back drop of a very sad man who is dying under his 600 pound frame. He urges his students to write the truth and tell the truth, all while hiding alone in his grief. 

It's a painful play to watch, whether or not you can relate to the body and weight issues addressed in the play. It forces the observer to decide if they will be authentic, honest and true, or if they will hide. Hiding can take many forms, and uses a variety of vices. 

This one broke my heart, and will stay with me for a very long time. 

How to Steal a Picasso at the Unicorn

How to Steal a Picasso is my first play of 2016...and I'm thrilled it was. This is my second experience with William Missouri Downs, and I've decided his strength lies in telling us a serious truth fed to us in a farce. With Women Playing Hamlet, the lesson was how women have been left out of the theatre space and their decisions related to taking it back. In this work, art is questioned at its core. Is it art for art's sake or is it only valuable if it is consumable? 

Stephanie Demaree's dramaturg research and writing peels away the layers to reveal the true backdrop is the economic downfall of Detrtoit's bankruptcy trials of 2013-2014. The city debated selling its art that was held at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Doing so would flood private collections with this art, but leave it inaccessible to the public. There were rumors of sales of a Van Gogh during this period. 

The backdrop of Detroit is beautifully created with the set. It's detailed and gorgeously conveys a front lawn, insane entrance with poem flags and older home with walls covered in splatter art. Gary Mosby is a master of his craft, but this set is especially gorgeous. The scene and location is essential to the story, and the actors feel grounded and perfectly placed in this locale. With such a busy set and props, lighting can present a challenge. The props were a delight to look at, and Bret Engle (properties) and Sarah M. Oliver (costumes) did an exceptional work in making sure the busyness of their artistic expressions enhanced rather than distracted from the performances. Alex Perry has presented lighting designs that transition easily without being notice. They are a brighter wash that accents the set and moves our eyes to the various locations. David Kiehl had his work cut out for him the ambient noise throughout the production, but it rolled flawlessly with Tanya Brown and her stage management. 

I have never been more thrilled with one cast. It was the second night, so the middle had a bit of a pacing issue, but there is no doubt by Saturday the audience will be following along. Tommy Gorrebeeck (Johnny Smith) has made his Unicorn debut, and he's shown tremendous humor and emotional range. You know how much I love Katie Kalahurka (Casey Smith). She has transformed her physicality and voice timbre again. She uses the building blocks of the craft to build her characters from the ground up. Walter Coppage (Otto Smith) is synonymous with Kansas City theatre and is the star of the show. I could watch he and Cathy Barnett (Belle Smith) all night long go back and forth. Darren Kennedy (Mr. Walker) was amazingly over the top. 

Visit unicorn.org for tickets. 

Mr. Burns - A post Electric Play

It has taken me a long time to decide on how to write this review. This play seems ecclectic and irreverent, but something is brilliant over the surface. Over time, art changes. The Shakespeare of today is hardly recognizable from the Shakespeare of his time. What he considered crass jokes and throw away lines that he wrote in a hurry for money we now study in a classroom for our doctorates. In the same way, Anne Washburn really hits on what would happen if our modern day society stopped in an apocolypse and what stories would we tell from that point onward. When the play ends, 75 or so years after the first act after the apocolypse, the music and stories told regarding lost television and musical history are far different than what was actually real. Over and over, the characters remind each other of the bits and pieces they recall, hobbling together a show and buying lines from others. At the end, they create something that is so different than what was the original product that we would see on our television screens at the beginning. It is a written testimony of how storytelling and history changes perception, and how what was inane and simple could be misconstrued to be revered or holy.

It is absolutely insane to try and explain or summarize it. The Unicorn's dramaturg did a brilliant job. 

Please visit unicorn.org for ticket information. 

This production is co-created with UMKC and it is absolutely well-done from the set to the costumes to the acting. The start, however, is Manon Halliburton. She gave a chilling monologue delivery at the beginning that set the tone and description of the entire apolocolpyse. If she didn't do her job on point, the entire first act would have been off kilter. She absolutely nailed it. I would highly recommend any aspiring actors watch her from start to finish with her physicality and her voice control - she is a force. Matthew King's over the top humor in the second act was a surprise. He over-played in just the right areas. As a team, the entire ensemble had to ebb and flow between multiple changes, both in character growth, while almost playing themselves as a morality play. This is extremely difficult and demanding work. They did an outstanding job. 

Word of warning, the Simpsons music will be in your head for a week afterwards. 

Midwest Dramatists Fundraiser

Tonight I attended a fundraiser at the Midwest Dramatists Center at the Writer's Place. I got to see a friend from college, the amazing Bree Elrod, and wrote a very small script that she got to act in. I had no idea that such a group existed to support local playwrights and writers. Currently, they are working on configuring the downstairs into a more workable blackbox space. I would highly consider giving to this organization as part of your end of year giving. For more information on the Midwest Dramatists Center, please visit www.midwestdramatists.org - It was well worth the $30 donation and local theatre lovers should attend if they have another!

The Oldest Boy by Sarah Ruhl - The Unicorn

For details on tickets, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/796884210410704/ 

This is the opening show to the Unicorn's 42nd season. It is absolutely a risky and complicated show. The topic itself, motherhood and attachment parenting across cultures, is difficult to master. Add in puppetry, time jumps, and scene changes can leave this as one monumental task. 

Katie Kalahurka (mother) was brilliant. I adored her in last's season's Spinning Tree Production of Ghost Rider. It's amazing to see her capture humor and grief in one performance. She is probably my favorite local actor. 

Vi Tran (father) was masterful in his portrayal of one having to move between cultures. His character grew, changing his opinions and convictions, which could have easily been flat. He brought a depth and warmth to the character and turned the play in the direction it needed to go. 

Alex Espy (oldest boy) and Andi Meyer (puppeteer) were masterful and gorgeous in their flow, movements and stage presence. I can't describe too much of what they did because I want any new audience members to be surprised. 

Wai Yim (A Lama) was simply amazing and incandescent when he has scenes to play off of with Katie Kalahurka. It was akin to watching a perfectly timed tennis match. Every gesture and line had another volley back. Brilliant. Sharp direction by Cynthia Levin and impeccable acting. 

Thomas Tong (a monk) did a wonderful job of cluing the audience in to what was going on before it was revealed. I hope to see him grow in more roles in other productions. 

The technical aspects of the play were seamless and amazing. Sarah White (Scenic designer), TzuChing Chen (Asst Scenic designer), Paul Mesner (puppet direction), and Mike Horner (puppet design and construction) had a large challenge that they conquered wonderfully. As always, Tanya Brown (Stage Manager) was on point to make sure it ran on time. This was a preview night, and I'm usually prepared to be very gracious in my reviews with technical glitches. It was flawless. 

My only critique is the second act felt very rushed. There was a lot of great build up in the first act, backstory and emotional discussions. The second act felt like it was hurrying to tie everything in so quickly in a bow it felt unnatural. What it felt like was a major decision was almost made off stage. I can't tell you anything else without spoiling it for you, but that's my only negative in an absolutely gorgeous and well done work. It's honest, daring, difficult, gutsy and complicated with emotions and technical challenges. What a way to open a season. 

Tribes - Unicorn Theatre -

I experienced "Tribes" last night at the Unicorn Theatre. I went last night on purpose as it was going to be interpreted into sign language. 

As I was getting to my seat, the audience was filled with members of the Deaf community who were signing to each other across the theatre, gesturing and translating where to sit in order to see the interpreters. It was a partially quiet audience since half of us were speaking only in sign language. I felt like an outsider but I was ok feeling like an outsider. It was part of the point. 

Even though this show has four seasoned actors and two newcomers, all six of them balanced beautifully. They all were intense and quiet at the right times. The emotion and the fighting could have pushed to melodrama, but it felt authentic of a family who is dysfunctional in the way they show affection. Is it dysfunctional in the conventional way you think of abuse? No, it's more insidious, and it's brilliant and almost feels too long and uncomfortable as the backdrop to Billy's (Paul Ososki) silence at the top of the work. Christopher (David Fritts), Beth (Jan Rogge), Ruth (Nicole Marie Green), and Daniel (Jake Walker) are all yelling at each other, leaving us, and Billy, confused. Billy has been treated as not deaf, but in doing so, he's been left feeling isolated. The very thing the parents and family was striving to do had the opposite effect. 

Jan Rogge is brilliant. I can't say enough about her. She has to be sympathetic, angry, liked, hated, near tears, the whole gamut. It's easy to overlook her performance with the caustic lines that David Fritts delivers as the patriarch Christopher, but Jan is a jewel. Caught between these parents, Nicole has to play Ruth as sometimes in control and sometimes not. Though her part is smaller compared to the rest, she never lets you forget she's there. She shows us heartbreak in the midst of a dark comedic moment. 

I'm completely biased because Jake Walker is a friend of a friend, and an alum of Creed Rep. What he had to do as Daniel was absolutely dangerous. Whenever one interprets someone with a mental illness, there is the danger of becoming a caricature, or laughable. Jake's brilliance was the believability and the breath-holding moments of not knowing what Daniel was going to do next. Was he going to kill someone? Kill himself? Kill Billy, his anchor, if he tried to go off on his own? Drive Sylvia away if she tries to take Billy away? You just don't know what Daniel is going to do or say next, within the confines of a believable character in the midst of unbelievable physicality. As I told him, he killed it. Absolutely killed it. 

Among all this, Paul Ososki (Billy) and Lisa Lehnen (Sylvia) navigated their relationship with a new language. I think there was supposed to be screens on the stage that showed what was being signed but they malfunctioned. As someone who didn't know sign, I missed some of Sylvia's dialogue. I actually thought that was brilliant. Earlier, when half the audience was signing to one another, I was similarly lost. I wasn't in that tribe. This play wasn't for me, or about me. I was going to miss parts. 

As I was leaving the theatre, I patron behind me mumbled, "Well, I give that a C+, I couldn't understand what they were signing or saying half the time. I felt lost." I almost turned around to give him a hand gesture I knew he wouldn't misinterpret, but I kept it to myself. Really, I think that was the part of the play that is important, and having the subtitles break in the middle of the show was actually quite brilliant. The Deaf community doesn't have the benefit of subtitles and people patient enough to teach or show them what is being said. As a hearing person, lost at what is happening, we got a taste of our own medicine. 

This is an exceptional article which talks about the director's desire for authenticity of the casting of Paul Ososki (Billy) as a profoundly deaf actor and of casting Lisa Lehnen (Sylvia) a ASL interpreter: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/performing-arts/article22930440.html . 

* The best translation? Having Paul Walker gesture a blow job, and watching the interpreters interpret it again. Hilarious. The interpreters were just as expressive and on point as the actors, and they become part of the show themselves.

Cock - The Unicorn Theatre (the play that must not be named)

This play is hard to explain. (Pun intended). Basically, John has a long term boyfriend, M, and goes out with a woman, W. John is confused about his feelings and sexuality. And M's dad, F, puts in his two cents which doesn't help. All played out without props, just a set laid out like a boxing ring and four actors. 

90 minutes. No intermission. A ding of a bell signaling the next movement. Actors spitting on each other but never touching at all. Circling. Everyone in gray but the love interest in red like a red flag at a bull fight. Amazing. Dizzying. 

The writing in this is like being dropped in the middle of a conversation where you want to interject by yelling at everyone involved. It's beyond snappy. Everyone was brilliant, but Zachary Andrews (M) was something incandescent. He had to be somewhat of a bastard, but likable at the same time. He had to be angry but testy, fed up but not willing to stop. Everything circled around him, and if that actor hadn't been magnificent, this show wouldn't have worked. Everything plays to him. 

John, played by Jacob Aaron Cullum, is written as milk toast, as someone with no spine and no direction. That is difficult to play as an actor without coming across as low energy. It took a while to catch what was happening, and then I saw John with (W) Molly Denninghoff. John was himself. But sweet. Communicative. With new mannerisms but the same confused core. It's easy to downplay Jacob's brilliance in light of Zachary but he did exactly what he needed to do. We hate John because he won't make up his mind. His silence is infuriating. 

The end scene, the farce-like dinner party, is so brilliant. It's written well, and the fight between (F), Matthew Rapport, and (W) Molly Denninghoff is controlled and then on fire. 

The whole show is angry, seething, a bit of sweet, but quite a ride. Not for the faint of heart. Well done.