Mental illness is tackled in the devised play #SoSadSoSexy.  This type of theater is the result from a collective collaboration of a performing ensemble.  An ambitious plot structure attempts to contain the myriad of concepts brought to life but this well-intentioned work needs editing.

A discussion about a nude portrait opens the play.  In this Victorian era, the crowd is incited.  The subject of the painting defiantly stares back at her gawkers.  She knows who she is and is in “no coy denial”.  How women are perceived is a major theme which courses through this dual tale.

Lucy is a woman from the Victorian period.  She paints and gets involved with a mentor.  Her relationship will eventually find her committed to an insane asylum.  Izzy is a modern day young woman who has been hospitalized after a suicide attempt.  Two distinct stories “explore the parallels between each period’s approach to mental health, gender politics, and the personal and collective identities we create”.

This double track overlaps with Izzy and her friend reading Lucy’s memoir which just so happens to be on hand.  While the subject matter may seem intensely depressing, there are many quips to keep the mood lighter than probable.  Humor is used defensively as in “Xanax o’clock, my favorite time!”  Izzy is particularly self-deprecating:  “I guess dressing as a Goth seven year old isn’t hot”.  She does want to be taken seriously.  “I don’t want to come off as some spoiled pageant brat”.

The tonal shifts can be jarring given the intention to illuminate narratives about how the mental condition of women has been considered over the centuries.  So-called groundbreaking work on hysteria from 1882 coexists with outpatient electroshock therapy.  The messaging is consistent about the physical and emotional mistreatment of these women by examining the worlds in which they inhabit.

Three authors and two contributors have crammed a lot of plot into their piece.  The play touches on too many hot button issues including race, social media, sexuality and drug abuse.  One of the flippantly light spots teaches the concept of “subbing”.  Taking medication under the tongue increases the potency.  Then the joke:  “Twice the taste in half the time for the psycho on the go!”

The shifting time periods and moods undercut the play’s clarity.  Scenes change frequently often hurting the ability to absorb a storyline.  Consequential mental health issues are both dramatized for their life and death significance as well as considered for a story in Teen Glamour magazine.  The play also has to wrap up two endings and tie them together.  It does that with last minute subplots.

#SoSadSoSexy has an interesting conceit which is overwhelmed by an excess of ideas and rapid changes in focus.  The disturbing irony, however, is unique and edgy.  Izzy’s pronouncement makes the point clear.  “I’m the first girl to publicly document her slow death on Instagram.  I’m gonna be famous”.  When this material finds its main voice (or two), the mission to analyze a serious topic will be further realized.

#SoSadSoSexy produced by Tapestry Collective is performing at Off-Off Broadway’s artistic incubator The Tank through March 26, 2022.  The show is also available for livestreaming.

www.thetanknyc.org

The workers in the spectacularly realized play 7 Minutes are facing a crisis.  Their Connecticut textile factory has just been sold.  The elected representatives of their union council have been called to a meeting.  A decision awaits.

You enter the theater and seating is on all four sides of the room.  This is the employee’s break area.  You-Shin Chen’s scenic design is perfect.  This is not a cushy conference room but instead an assemblage of assorted tables and chairs.  Music intended to create a feeling of anxiety plays.  Tension lies ahead.

Ten women (including gender non-conforming folx) are clearly on edge.  Linda has been in a meeting for over three hours with “ten suits” and has not yet returned.  She is their spokesperson.  They represent two hundred people employed by this successful company.  Linda is meeting with the new owners, some of whom are foreign investors.  The number one worry is what will happen to their livelihood.

When Linda finally arrives after nearly four hours, she brings news.  Management and their lawyers have a very specific proposal.  The council has only ninety minutes to vote.  Some view the choice as a simple one; others do not.  Eavesdropping on this debate is the fabric of this play.

The council members look like a broad spectrum of the American worker, including many immigrants.  Perspectives are varied so the depth of the conversation is engrossing and complicated.  How do you approach this decision from your point of view?  From your age?  From your personal responsibilities?

Each character has a distinct and recognizable voice.  Their interactions are vividly realistic from the good natured needling to the outright accusations.  The Linda role takes the position of emcee and provocateur.  Unfolding layers of individual realities emerge.  This decision may or may not be easy.  Opposing points of view is a quandary to be solved.  Or not.

Unfettered capitalism is the target of Stefano Massini’s play as was the case in his extraordinary The Lehman Trilogy.  The council is advised to think carefully.  So is the audience.  How would you vote and why?  Your own life experience will affect how you process the for or against alternatives.  Lehman Brothers is gone now but the legacy of strife between American workers and their employers (and government) continues.

Mirroring life, these people have diverse personalities.  One with a sense of humor notes that their worst nightmare is to be locked in a factory filled with pictures of her mother made by her mother.  Others are intense and describe the current environment as a “cesspool of a world”.  The seriousness of the situation is riveting:  “we are hacking ourselves to pieces just to save our skins”.

Mei Ann Teo’s meticulous direction has a riveting “you are there” feel.  The undulating physical movement through this breakroom nicely focuses attention on each speaker.  Their frame of reference makes the discussion compelling and richly complicated.  Where this play ends is anyone’s guess.  That’s the drama on display and it is a triumphant dissection of topics quite real and, for many, urgently important.

The eleven performances are terrific.  Each of them breathes life into the patchwork quilt that is our so-called melting pot.  You listen to those who are talking and observe those who are listening and reacting.  Along the way inner truths and ideas emerge.  They are not all easily digested by them or, by extension, us.  Having doubts may be a luxury compared to food on a table or medicine for a child.  7 Minutes is a superior piece of theater firmly planted in today’s America.

7 Minutes is being presented by Waterwell in association with Working Theater through April 9, 2022 at HERE Arts Center.

www.here.org

www.waterwell.org

www.theworkingrheater.org

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/thelehmantrilogy

On one side of the stage there is a tony law office with its desks, books and golf clubs.  The opposite side is a representation of a poor urban neighborhood.  Garbage litters the ground.  Stark contrasts between the “haves” and the “have nots” are on full display in the new play Sometime Child: a Reclamation and a Redemption.

John Stanley is a successful lawyer and a do-gooder.  He writes large checks for the unfortunate but steers clear of any physical contact such as attending a charity dinner.  His office straddles a sketchy part of town.  Despite his apparent wealth he parks his car a distance away to save on fees.  One evening his is mugged and beaten badly by two high school dropouts.

Clarence and Bobby are the products of severely broken homes.  Clarence is barely scraping by as a janitor in a hospital.  Bobby’s line of work “gets me lots of Benjamins”.  He is a petty thief and the boastful leader of this duo.  He seems satisfied with his life; surviving or thriving depending on the day.

Lawyer John lands in the hospital where Clarence works.  A tentative rapport begins to develop between them.  He gives Clarence the book Moby Dick to read at home.  While the selection of that Melville novel seems wildly farfetched due to its infamously complex prose, the relationship organically meshes as they bond over the novel.  The character of Queequeg becomes a catalyst for discussing race.  The evolving chemistry between the actors Stephan Morrow and the younger Walker Clermont is first-rate.

As you might expect, there is a generational divide between them besides their socioeconomic differences.  John describes his nurse (Irma Cadiz) as a “combination of Nurse Ratchett and Hot Lips Houlihan”.  It’s hard to imagine Clarence having any idea what he is talking about.  The cultural gap may be wide but the two find some common ground.  This purposeful tale progresses to one in which empathy and communication are proffered as a pathway to meaningful change.

A Teen Chorus is employed to comment on the action.  They follow the tribulations of Clarence and Bobby and demonstrate how older role models influence the community both positively and negatively.  They “read” headlines which define their world and its overwhelming challenges.  The chorus is lightly goofy and humorous.  What seems silly and ridiculous at first progresses into a charming device to keep the story from becoming heavy handed and also relatable to a younger audience.

Richard Bruce’s play is certainly commenting on our inequitable society.  What makes this story compelling is its focus on demonstrating the power of an individual’s capacity to reach across the divide.  On both sides.  There is a beautifully realized section commenting on our various English dialects that nails the point firmly.

The storyline contains interesting twists and turns which not only propel the plot forward but also provide challenging opportunities for character growth.  I saw a multi-million dollar Broadway show about race and circumstance the night before I saw Sometime Child.  This off-off Broadway production was far more emotionally engaging and clearly had a point of view.

Director Morrow (who is also the lawyer) nicely balances the tonal shifts of Mr. Bruce’s thoughtful piece.  The Greek chorus could be integrated even further into the production.  They sit on the sidelines with repetitive entrances and exits.  There are a number of set changes in which they could be employed to physically intermingle and more directly underscore the well articulated messages of this play.  All four of them were amusing, however, and Ciara Chanel Allen was a particular standout.

The story arc was effective due to excellent performances by Walker Clermont as Clarence and his two main points of contact.  His two central relationships with troubled Bobby (Liam Kyle McGowan) and the aggressively helpful John Stanley (Mr. Morrow) are soundly rendered and expand fittingly.

The opening and ending scenes are slightly clunky to kick things off and wrap them up but the goals for this philosophical narrative are clearly realized in this staging.  In a world where solutions seem impossible, Sometime Child exists to inspire and provoke.

Sometime Child: A Reclamation and a Redemption is running at the Theater for the New City through March 27, 2022.

www.theaterforthenewcity.net

A True Story from 1961

In this year of the bizarre ice skating competition at the Winter Olympics, Flash/Frozen arrives Off-Off Broadway to tell a story I did not know.  A fatal plane crash in 1961 killed the entire U.S. skating team on its way to the World Championships in Prague.

Tim Brown was a four time silver medalist at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and also won two silvers at World’s.  In 1961 he won the bronze and qualified for the Olympic team.  He did not travel due to illness and the fourth place finisher, Doug Ramsay, boarded that fateful plane.

Lance Ringel has dramatized this tragic event through these two people.  Tim was the experienced veteran who never beat his nemesis David Jenkins, the 1960 Olympic gold medalist and a four time champ at nationals.  His bitterness is tongue-in-cheek bitchy and entertaining.

Sixteen year old Doug was the up and coming star.  He was famous for being an audience favorite.  In our modern era of Nathan Chen’s multiple quadruple jump performances, this teenager wowed with the triple jump.  He was the only skater at the 1961 U.S. competition to perform one.

The play has a pseudo-documentary structure.  A film of JFK’s inauguration on January 20, 1961 opens the show.  We hear him say that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.  The play starts on that date and concludes less than a month later.  In that time both men tell their stories and share their dreams.

Clint Hromsco portrays Tim Brown, always the second banana.  After the crash he tells us the press was “merciless”.  He cheated death.  The unanswerable question:  “how do you get over something like that?”  His performance nicely straddles the line between unlikable and likable so he is an absorbing character.

Riley Fisher engagingly conjures up the twinkle eye sparkling newness of youth as Doug Ramsay.  There is a nice contrast written into this plot contrasting the established veteran against the future star.  We see it in sports all the time and it works well here.

The play could be enhanced with a third role.  The voiceover narration attempts to set the action and propel the dates forward.  An observer looking back at this catastrophe might add an additional level of analysis to what is essentially back and forth monologues.

The concept of “compulsory figures” is an important part of this story.  Way back when, these circular patterns counted for as much as sixty percent of the total score.  You can understand why the young jumper is bummed he placed fourth due to a disappointing result in this area.  I attended the show with someone born after ice skating dropped this element.  A narrator could also help fill in the blanks as we did after the play ended.

Wyatt Stone’s figure skating choreography is cutely clever and additive to the tale.  Flash/Frozen reminds us that chance is a part of life.  Mr. Ringel’s play easily could have been depressing but instead manages to keep the spirit of these athletes alive.  This hour long piece could further grow by adding additional spins but the story and the telling were both interesting and a tad heartbreaking.

Flash/Frozen is being performed at Theatre Row through March 20, 2022.

www.bfany.org/theatre-row