Brooklyn Play Review

(From December 7th)

It was cold outside yesterday, it even snowed a little bit, but it quickly melted into rain the moment it touched the ground. Only the cars parked down Bedford and Broadway kept the snowflakes intact; they built up on the windshields and the roofs and started to look like the bottom of a freezer. The rest of us got cold windy rain, and there's no type of weather/precipitation mix I hate more than cold windy rain (although I suppose that you can't have hot snow). It's just that combination, misery with the ability to slip at any time that makes it particularly grating. But this time, as I walked outside it was almost pleasant, refreshing really; it was so hot in the WAH Center's makeshift theater on the 3rd floor, all the people moving around, the hot stage lights.
But I kept my jacket on anyway, I've always done that, I never want to get too comfortable in a place where I have no right being comfortable, besides I'm gonna just put it back on again anyway. Truth is that I felt as comfortable as I possibly could, given the circumstances. Imagine, sitting there, in all of your untrendyness, mixed up with the hipsters and Black bohos, with their deep understanding of the inner workings of Chekov, their impeccable appreciation of modern kinds of art, and their, their scarves. I didn't do a scientific survey, but there was at least a 2.5 to 1 ratio of scarves to people at this event (it would have been higher but I considerably dragged down the mean). True it was cold outside, but scarves more than anything else, represent for me the essence of the Williamsburg Hipster- I bet if it were 86 degrees outside the ratio would have stayed more or less the same.
I don't know why I rode out all the way to Brooklyn to see five 15 minute plays that used Chekov as an inspiration. Obstensibly, it's because I wanted to support a fellow JWJer, and that's true. We're not really friends, just acquaintances really; I think he was a little surprised when I showed up. Also, I knew that if I were to go, I'd be going alone. That's kind of how all these things work out for me. As a formality, I invited my co-workers, but really I sometimes like to go to these kind of things alone. In the good instances, it's not loneliness but supreme tranquility.

The train ride is the hardest part. The ride going to Brooklyn wasn't bad, I had a stop along the way (Lincoln Center, Frost/Nixon, crowded house) which broke up the sometimes excitement, sometimes monotony of being on the train. Going to the WAH Center was the first time I ever took the J-train. It's actually quite beautiful, especially as you emerge above ground going across the Williamsburg bridge and you look at the little yellow dots cascading down the high-rises, and you recognize the daunting, dirty beauty of the East River. I got off at the Marcy Avenue stop; in a brazen display of appropriate lameness I switched my iPod over to Jay-Z, crossing the avenue with absolute impunity. The walk to Bedford Avenue was longer than I expected from how the numbers were set up west of Marcy Avenue; one thing I hate about New York is that their numbering system is all out of whack in parts. In the city, for instance, instead of having the same avenue be the center from which all of the numbers are arranged, the centers are on different avenues, and that's just stupid.

The plays: I enjoyed the set as a whole. The brevity of each play means that you have to pay attention really carefully, you might miss the entire point otherwise. The first one was undoubtedly the weakest of the three- it was called Bear 2.0 and it was about a lady whose husband just died and he's trying to get into his laptop in order to see whether or not he was having an affair. While she's trying to open the computer at a coffee shop, a computer geek comes by and tells her that he was supposed to meet her husband there because he had some property of his. After he helps her with the laptop and some terse conversations, she decides she needs to move on.
The play only had two actors, but I just did not feel their chemistry, although I think that it mostly had to do with the script. The actress who played the widow was good, not classically pretty, but artsy cute with short hair and a black dress. The geek was a caricature of a computer nerd, and he overacted his part a little bit. The conclusion was a little trite- you could see it coming from the stratosphere. Overall- a B- for the actors, C+ for the script/plot

Biggest Break: On second thought, I might have liked this one even less, even though the performances were slightly better. It's about a late 20-something guy who lives with his mother, who he treats like shit. His father just died and, over a joint, he discusses with his friend how to best use the money left for him. They decide to start a record label, but as they are congratulating each other, his father's friend, lawyer, and business partner, comes upstairs to discuss the terms of the will. Instead of being able to get the money immediately, the son's share of the will is contingent on him working in the business for 10 years. The play ends with
Again, the acting was only okay. The mother, who only has bit parts, has the battered wife syndrome down pretty good. The friend is probably the best of all the actors, but he also benefits from having a much easier part to play. The "stoner friend" part almost guarantees laughs, and he gets them with his timely quips. The main character has it much harder as he has to be both a decent straight man for his "stoner friend" and an emotionally sympathetic character during the climax. He certainly tries, but he doesn't have the chops and comes off as unconvincing in both. The father's friend is much better, tempering his forcefulness while being the ironic bearer of bad/good news. The climactic scene, where the business partner confronts the son, falls flat though, simply because the son cannot carry his weight. The script and plot are okay, nothing special but I don't think they hindered the actors performances. Overall, the actors get a B- and the script/plot get a B-.

Philodendron: Now, this is what I came here for. This was also a play with two actors, but they were older than the actors in Bear 2.0, and their chemistry is incredible. The play is about a couple who are in the process of separating. There are a few items left in the living room, and they've decided to take turns in picking through the objects. It's really about the process of a relationship breaking down, the flickering hope of reconciliation, and arguments that always seem to end up exactly where they started. The plot is easy to identify with, which puts it right in the wheelhouse of any seasoned actors. The script is very well written- the dialogue is specific enough for it to be identified with a single relationship, but the themes themselves are all too common. And the actors are by far the best of the evening. The man, who at first did not agree to the separation, in time slowly grows to appreciate what it will mean for him. The woman, who is the one who wanted to separate has the opposite transformation. But the way they cross paths, the way that they ultimately develop, and the way that the man leaves that one final time, leaving his wife with the philodendron in her hand- wow!. What's most important though is that throughout the entire play, the love between them is still palpable. It's at times both smoldering and playful- you can tell that they truly worked on how exactly to make their interactions believable. The joy of the night really. The actors get an A and the plot/script gets an A- (because the actual plot played it a little safe).

Gone With the Masha: Well, actually, this was the real reason I came out. This was the play that my fellow JWJer wrote, and it was the second best one of the night. A man comes into a bank with a business idea for pre-rundown condos, for middle class professional people who have hit bottom and are too pathetic to do anything to fix their lives. As expected, the two loan officers (a woman who is the senior and her male employee) think it is a preposterous idea and tell him to leave. The senior is called into a meeting with her superiors and the business man is left with the subordinate loan officer. The subordinate then starts to talk about how miserable he is, how he lost his job as a doctor for medical malpractice, and how he would love to get a job with the business man. He then professes his love for his senior, saying if he got a different job she'd love him. They're interrupted by the senior coming back in with her mascara running under her eyes- she did not get a promotion she was hoping for and starts to go ballistic, as the subordinate tries to comfort her. The two loan officers quickly descend into pathetic shells, yelling, screaming, crying, and confessing to the business man. The lady even tries to sexually accost the business man. The play ends with the business man running for his life out of the bank as the two loan officers finally contain themselves.
The actors, particularly the subordinate loan officer has great comedic timing, particularly his physical humor. The ensemble as a whole though generates a lot of laughs- a great amount of that credit goes to the writer (my associate) because of the point he was trying to prove about people and the facades in which they hide their true selves. The business man makes an excellent transition from being the guy who provides the laughs in the first half, to being the only sane individual in the second, although most of his responsibilities in the second half is being a horrified on-looker trying in vain to grab his stuff to go. The lady also makes a transformation- although she is far more compelling as the Glen Close/Cruella De Ville boss in the first half than she is as the Glen Close/Fatal Attraction/screeching banshee that she is in the second. Philodendron is the most thought-provoking and best written play of the set, but this was definitely the most enjoyable. Actors A-, script/plot A

Fin de Circle: The final play and truth be told I was a little out of it by then. I hadn't eaten in a little while, and I mostly just listened to my stomach rumbling. The play took place sometime during Reagan's first term (1983 or 1984) and was about a family divided over a town's decision to take down a nativity scene in the town square. What it's actually about, though, is the obliviousness of the heads of the family to what is actually going on inside their household. As the mother, grandfather, and grandmother fret over the nativity scene, the daughter and her boyfriend are having sex, the brother is gay and services his sisters boyfriend, and the maid brilliantly discusses the political ramifications of the town's decision. It's all a little over the top, which would be fine, except I do not think the writer or director made the commitment to make it a true comedy- so they're kind of stuck in between making a serious play and making a comedy and achieve neither. Two actors do particularly well though- the grandfather and the drop dead gorgeous maid (she wore won of those Fame style sweaters that showed her shoulder). Overall, the actors get a B and the script/plot a B.