Signature Plays **

On paper it must have seemed like a good idea to present a triple bill of revived short works by playwrights who were in Signature Theatre’s Legacy program. For someone like me who has a limited tolerance for absurdist theater, the results were not gratifying. Yesterday’s avant garde often seems quaint or just annoying today. 

Edward Albee’s “The Sandbox” at least offered a bit of drollery and a chance to see three fine actors — Alison Fraser, Frank Wood and Phyllis Somerville as Mommy, Daddy and Grandma, respectively— and hunky Ryan-James Hatanaka as The Young Man. Melody Giron played the cello. 

Maria Irene Fornes’s “Drowning” is a strange tale of unrequited love in which the three characters — Pea (Mikeah Ernest Jennings), Roe (Sahr Ngaujah) and Stephen (Wood again) — are dressed like humans but inexplicably wear grotesque masks that make them look more like sea lions. 

The longest and most complex work is Adrienne Kennedy’s “Funnyhouse of a Negro,” a surrealistic look at racial identity and racism through the mind of Sarah (Crystal Dickinson), a mixed-race graduate student on the Upper West Side. Except for her landlady (Fraser) and her boyfriend (Nicholas Bruder), all the characters represent aspects of Sarah’s inner conflict. They include Queen Victoria Regina (April Matthis), the Duchess of Hapsburg (January LaVoy), Patrice Lumumba (Ngaujah), Jesus (Jennings), and Sarah’s mother (Pia Glenn.) The short scenes are punctuated by blackouts. Along about the tenth one, I began praying that the next would be the last. While I can appreciate the impact the play must have had when new, it just didn’t work for me now.

The production values are first-rate with sets by Mimi Lien, costumes by Kaye Voyce and lighting by Mark Barton. Lila Neugebauer directed. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including two intermissions.

The Wayside Motor Inn **

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a devoted fan of A. R. Gurney’ plays. I was therefore very pleased to learn that Signature Theatre would present three of his works — two revivals and a new play —  this season. In addition, a Broadway revival of “Love Letters” with star (or stunt, depending on your point of view) casting is forthcoming. The play Signature chose to start the Gurney series is a rarely produced work from 1977. We meet five sets of people staying (or, in one case, working) at a nondescript motel outside of Boston. An elderly couple, Frank (the always fine Jon DeVries), who is suffering from heart trouble, and Jessie (Lizbeth Mackay, also very good) are in town to visit their newest grandchild. Vince, an overbearing father (Marc Kudisch, usually excellent, but stuck here with a one-note role) has brought his long-suffering son Mark (Will Pullen) for a Harvard interview that the father wants far more than his son. Andy (Kelly AuCoin) and Ruth (Rebecca Henderson) are a divorcing couple whose attempt to divide their possessions amicably goes awry. Phil (David McElwee) is a college student who has rented a room for the night to bed his girlfriend Sally (Ismenia Mendes) for the first time. Ray (Quincy Dunn-Baker) is a married traveling salesman who tries to pick up Sharon (an amusing Jenn Lyon), a waitress whose concern for her customers’ health is not appreciated by her employers. (Mendes, Henderson and Pullen appeared together recently in Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra at Playwrights Horizons.) The play’s gimmick is that all five stories take place simultaneously on the same set. (Gurney’s acknowledges Ayckbourn’s similar experiments.) This idea turns out not to be as interesting as it sounds. The set becomes cluttered with characters from different stories who barely manage not to bump into each other. It would have helped if the stories were more compelling and if they somehow enriched each other. Unfortunately, there is only one fleeting moment when two stories connect. Andrew Lieberman must have had fun designing the set; the plaid wallpaper and orange chenille bedspreads raise hideousness to new heights. Kaye Voyce’s costumes are unremarkable. I’m not sure what director Lila Neugebauer could have done to prevent this slender work from making such a tepid impression. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes including intermission.

Note: The stage is unusually high. Sitting in the third row, my eyes were level with its floor. Those in the first few rows on the right have a partially obstructed view.

From White Plains ****

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
Hidden deep in the recesses of the Signature Center complex is the Studio, a cozy performing space available for rental by other groups. The current occupant is this production by the Fault Line Theatre, a group of alumni of the Brown University/Trinity Theatre drama program. Playwright/director Michael Perlman, in collaboration with the four actors, has written a timely drama about the long-term effects of bullying. Two straight 30-year-old buddies, Ethan (Aaron Rossini) and John (Craig Wesley Divino), are watching the Oscars and are shocked to hear Dennis (Karl Gregory), Oscar-winning screenwriter of an indie film about high school bullying name Ethan as the student whose relentless gay-baiting 15 years ago drove a fellow classmate to commit suicide years later. Ethan posts an apology on the internet, but it is rejected by Dennis, who becomes increasingly obsessed with conducting a vendetta against Ethan via an escalating exchange of internet videos. Ethan loses his girlfriend, his job and his self-confidence. He has to close his online accounts to stop the multitude of verbal attacks. Even best friend John is pulling away from him. Meanwhile Dennis's boyfriend Gregory (Jimmy King) becomes increasingly upset over Dennis's obsession with punishing Ethan as well as his seeming lack of commitment to their relationship. Dennis rejects Gregory's right to criticize him because Gregory has never come out to his parents. Dennis and Ethan agree to appear together on a tv talk show. Their conversation in the green room before the show provides the play's emotional climax. What I liked about the play, in addition to the fine acting, was the respect for complexity and nuance. As in life, no one is either blameless or all bad and no simple answers are provided. Tristan Jeffers's simple set works well and Jessica Wegener Shay's costumes are appropriate. Perlman's direction goes for the long pregnant pause a few times too many. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission. NOTE: If you use the code FWP5D, you will save $5 off the $34 ticket price.