How long does it take to watch everything on Netflix? Before the COVID-19 pandemic that question may never have been asked. In Zoetrope, that is only one of many observations dissected and analyzed by the couple in this play. As you peer into their world and watch their journey, your own experiences from this past year will inevitably creep into focus. As a result, this fascinating thirty five minute performance is a rich and relevant slice of our times.
Speaking of slices, Bae and Angel will discuss whether or not they want pizza for dinner. At the onset of the lockdown they bought a lot of beans. So much so that the “line of healthy amount of beans was crossed weeks ago.” The humor is casual and effective throughout. This play, however, is not a comedy. Like life, this living diorama is a roller coaster of emotional peaks and valleys sprinkled with everyday moments.
Exquisite Corpse Company has set up shop in an abandoned lot in Brooklyn. The remnants of a dilapidated gas station and repair garage portend ruin. A small white trailer with audience members peering in from the outside arouses curiousity. This cleverly designed peep show respects the protocols of social distancing while spotlighting the world we have and continue to experience.
In a series of vignettes, the year 2020 and its impact on these two ladies will unfold. Angel talks about making lists. The things she wants to do in her new surreal reality. She even writes in a journal that is “too nice to write in.” As a list maker and goal setter myself, I saw my reflection through the glass pane. Playwrights Elinor T. Vanderburg, Leah Barker and Emily Krause pepper this show with spot on details.
And then there are the monologues. They range the gamut from insightful to peculiar. All of them are interesting and further enlighten these characters’ motivations, anxieties and personalities. Bae’s telephone call invoking a marshmallow analogy is one of the highlights of this impressive piece of theater. Directors Porcia Lewis and Tess Howsam fluidly present this claustrophobic production as a clearly quirky yet wide eyed examination of this crazy isolated time we just ironically experienced collectively.
Vanessa Lynah inhabits the role of the seemingly more fragile Angel. When she approaches the window and peers directly at you while asking questions, her intensity hints at deeper wells of conviction that are not readily apparent from the outset. As Bae, Jules Forsberg-Lary is seemingly the more stable and stalwart woman in this relationship. Her performance beautifully peels open a more confident exterior to reveal a softness that is heartbreaking in its honesty.
Walking away from Zoetrope at its conclusion, we found it remarkable that so much story and depth of characterization happened in such a short period of time. The Visual Design by Emily Addison with Visual Artist Domenica Montoya are icing on the cake. The world is often starkly viewed in black and white just like Bae and Angel’s tiny residence. The grays in between, however, are the shadows which defined us as human beings during a nebulous 2020. Uniquely theatrical and delicately ambitious. Zoetrope demands you drop the remote, go to Brooklyn and engage.
Exquisite Corpse Company’s presentation of Zoetrope was originally scheduled to run through May 23, 2021 but has extended performances until June 20th. Starr Kirkland and Leana Gardella also perform the roles of Angel and Bae at certain performances.