#90 - WTF am I watching?

Round-up of some plays that I've seen over the past couple of months. Like I said before it has proven easy to see plays once I made a commitment.

Nerve - When I first committed to the list, I wanted to see some plays I dubbed "modern, arty, freaky". I wasn't entirely sure what that meant but figured I'd "know it when I see it". Well, after seeing Nerve by Adam Szymkowicz, I can tell you part of the MAF formula is wondering - "um, are these people going to have sex on stage right in front of me?" Luckily Nerve wasn't that freaky - all sex in the play takes place (loudly and graphically) offstage. You know - it is a family show, after all.

Not quite kid friendly but Nerve is a very funny, and very quirky play about two people on their first date after meeting online. It is pretty clear pretty quickly that the two (and only) characters - Susan and Elliott - are a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. Elliott is obsessive, neurotic, falls way too quickly for Susan, and at one point pulls out his puppet - and no - that is not a clever euphemism. There's a puppet. Susan is best described as "suicide-y". She cuts, still has many unresolved issues with her ex, and does interpretative dance of her emotions in her head. Which we the audience are treated to see. I told you this was modern.

But it totally works. The play itself is full of laughs, and the actors here (Colleen Backer and Charlie Barron) were great. If you have a chance to see Nerve then go. The play only runs an hour but it packs in a lot. This production was at Echo - a shoestring theater company here in St. Louis. In fact TL & I are going soon to Echo's next play - The Secretaries. About a "a murderous cult of Slim Fast drinking female office workers". Sounds like fun. :)

The Drowsy Chaperone This was another Stages St. Louis production. Same place as Little Shop of Horrors. I had never seen this one before either and again I was pleasantly surprised. Again, the acting was great and I liked the songs and the play-within-a-play-within-a-play setup worked for me. I liked how it all fit together and yes some of it was phony and artificial but it was supposed to be.

Doubt, A Parable - This was an awesome play. I had liked the movie with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman but this was better. I think it was because the play is sparser - i.e. no kids, just the 4 main characters, and no set changes. Also this was at the HotCity Theatre location which is very small and intimate. Man, that confrontation scene between Sister Aloysius (Kim Furlow) and Father Flynn (Jason Cannon - who directed too) is intense. And I think Furlow gave the Sister a dimension that Meryl did not - you got a sense of why she has such a stick up her ass. And it is a legitimate reason.

This was the first production of the Dramatic License Productions company. It will move out to the theatrically underserved West St. Louis County (my part of town). Looking forward to it.

Prodigal - My other criteria for "modern, arty, freaky" was imagining my parents watching the play and going What the F**k is this? Well for Prodigal I didn't have to imagine. We attended together this "Unprecedented Fusion of Movement, Music, and Media That Explores the Parable about Family and Self-Discovery". Or so said the subtitle. And my family's review (myself included) was indeed WTF! The whole thing was 90 minutes of dance, with no dialogue - and hence no character introduction, no exposition, and no resemblance that I saw to the Prodigal Son parable. I admit I didn't always know what the heck was going on. And it was very slow-moving. Very conceptual. Very pretentious to be honest.

Not that pretension is an entirely bad - I tend to be quite good at it myself. And the open air setting in Forest Park was pleasant. And I admit that dancing is a skill, even if it is not very bankable (see what I mean about my being pretentious & snide?).

If art is about provoking a reaction then I guess Prodigal succeeded.

Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom - Another HotCity production. Typically great. This one was about a suburban neighborhood (rows of houses that are all the same - to quote The Monkees). All the kids are playing this hot new game about zombies. The game's hook is that via satellite technology the zombie battleground is your neighborhood. The game is so absorbing that reality and game blur (maybe?), and the zombies start looking like (are?) your parents. When you destroy them in bloody fashion it is only a game (right?)

This was a really simple play (much like Doubt) with only 4 players and 1 set. Though each actor plays multiple parts here. I really liked Maggie Conroy as "Girl Type".

As those noted philosophers continued - "Mothers complain about how hard life is and the kids just don't understand". That is true in Neighborhood 3 - at least until the Final Level - but then understanding comes too late.

Guys and Dolls - Finished out the season subscription at Stages St. Louis with this classic. First time seeing this on stage - of course have seen the Brando/Sinatra movie. Excellently executed production - good songs - I love Nicely Nicely and Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat. Not much to report otherwise. Except for definitely renewing the Stages subscription next year.

BTW - I bumped the MAF category to 5 total since I'm up to 2 already.