Key Change

by Mateus Ciucci Ferreira

Off Off Broadway, Play
4th Street Theatre, 83 East 4th Street

Runs through 31 January 2016

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Jessica Johnson and Christina Berriman Dawson in Key Change. Photo by Keith Pattinson.

BOTTOM LINE: A short and dense theatrical spectacle that delivers bitter truths with poetic justice and surgically precise acting.

One step past the box office and a replica of a prison pad or room. Hardly enough space to move, let alone to exist. Behind it, black walls covered in statements written in white chalk by incarcerated men for whom the play was performed back in 2014. Talk about a powerful prologue to the evening. Thinking the play would take place there, my mind grew curious. Minutes later, after having had the time to take the atmosphere in, we were directed to the room where the play would actually happen. There, a naked stage, nothing but a few chairs, a small desk and some controls. The space, although void of elaborate sets, was already filled with the voices read minutes before.

Key Change, a play devised with women in Her Majesty's Prison and written by the brilliantly dry and sharp Catrina McHugh, shines a light on the situation of women in prison, their befores and afters. Focusing all voices in the characters of Kelly (Christina Berriman Dawson), Lucy (Cheryl Dixon), Kim (Judi Earl), Angie (Jessica Johnson) and Lorraine (Victoria Copeland), it also paints the story darker with other small apparitions from the men and officers involved in the incarcerated women's lives—characters played by the above mentioned actors with surgical precision, and humanity. The five women each represent a type—all depicted with intelligence and heart—delivering the stories without gratuitous sentimentality and commendable strength.

While Copeland acts as both the quiet and observant Lorraine and the deputy stage manager—one of the many clever resolves director Laura Lindow presents us with—Johnson's portrayal of Angie is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. Dawson is an actor of immense talent and her portrayal of both Kelly and Lucy's abusive boyfriend is astounding in its nuances. Dixon finds a delicate balance in portraying first-time offender Lucy, giving us a sweet push-over who ends up finding her inner strength no matter how thin it may appear. Earl's rendition of Kim, the oldest offender of the group, is delicious as she balances the grandma appeal with the tough skin of her character. These powerful performers understand the value of detailed, fearless acting, and are able to unlock the pain and suffering contained behind bars, under the scars, and on the battered skin of the women whose voice are being echoed on stage.

If it's the carefully woven fabric of voices and stories that makes this a punch-strong show or if it is the fact that it is delivered carefully through equally powerful moments of comedy, completely earned lyricism and precise timing—applause here again to Lindow—that makes Key Change a much needed piece of theatre, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that this exists and has crossed the ocean to play in New York City. What the show lacks in production values, it makes up for in acting skills and in heart. Kept alive by these fantastic five, the heart has its temperature manipulated by the precise work of lighting designer Ziggy Jacobs-Wyburn.

McHugh's beautifully crafted words enrich the discussion of gender inequality, abuse towards women and the inefficacy of the prison system in correcting criminal offenders. I was left wondering several things, but the most persistent question was: how are lives that were broken from the very beginning expected to mend if they don't know any better? In bringing characters and lives that are locked up, Key Change liberates a taboo and takes us towards a much needed change, modulating abuse into empowerment. A must-see play.

(Key Change plays at 4th Street Theatre, 83 East 4th Street, and runs through 1.31.16. The show runs 60 minutes without intermissionPerformances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7, and Sundays at 5. Tickets are $25-$35 and are available at smarttix.com or by calling 212-868-4444.)

Check out Theasy.com for more theatre reviews.

Stockholm Savings

Review by Sam Silbiger

By Michael DeMeo, Based on text by Frank Pierson; Directed by Ashlie Atkinson
Produced by Polemic Theatre Company

Part of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival

Off Off Broadway, Play
Runs through 8.30.15 (Fri 28 Aug @ 5pm; Sun 30 Aug @ Noon)
VENUE #2: Flamboyan Theatre at the Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street

BOTTOM LINE: A tense, timely ensemble crime drama based on the real events that inspired Dog Day Afternoon.

It isn’t news that we live in turbulent times. Acts of violence remind us of festering racial tension. Billionaires show that power in our political system can be—and has been—purchased. Polemic Theatre Company’sStockholm Savings collages the biggest issues of our day together into a crime drama that tersely address our role as spectators, as social issues trend more and more towards spectacle.

Robbers Adam (Ryan Nicolls) and Andre (Reginald L. Wilson) didn’t ever seem to have a clear plan when they burst into a bank with guns. They wanted money, but when someone trips the alarm and relationships begin to form between unlikely parties in a shaky hostage situation, their composure flies out the window. They can’t handle the cops, nor the woman posting selfies with their weapons. And, when a massive crowd and media circus develops around the incident, Adam and Andre watch in real time as every aspect of their lives is twisted into something that can be used against them.

The scope of Stockholm Savings is broad. It encompasses everything from the pacifying function of religion to white male entitlement; from consumerism to media bias; from domestic hierarchy to the rights of trans individuals. Playwright Michael DeMeo effectively creates a catalogue of the hot-button issues of our day, phrased as a drama so high-stakes that each seems to be both causal and symptomatic of the others. This thematic overload might have felt bloated had it not been for director Ashlie Atkinson, whose clean organization of the action both inside and outside the bank gives clarity to a deluge of all-too-familiar click-bait fodder.

Perhaps the most striking part of the production (inspired by the real-life events that also inspired Dog Day Afternoon) is the intelligent, efficient design. Practical lighting effects by Miriam Crowe transformed laser pointers into a militarized police force, and express the atmospheric difference between inside and outside the bank with crystal clarity simply by bathing the room in flashing red and blue. Sound design by Julian Evans is spare and precise, deftly matched with dialogue and crucial to expressing the wider, media-drenched world that so informs the play’s events.

Without giving anything away, an event occurs at the end of the play which stings for anyone aware of the current epidemic of police brutality in New York and across the country. But, the feeling that this event is bound to happen in this kind of narrative is far more distressing than the event itself. Stockholm Savingsspins a narrative very close to those presented daily on television and internet news outlets, and we, as audience members, sit and watch it unfold in the same way: silent and inactive. Polemic Theater Company is exceedingly brave for confronting us with our own blase attitudes, and for doing so with such directness. Their work is confrontational, but crucially important to to those of us still standing in a rubbernecking crowd of millions, absorbing the world around us through a screen. Stockholm Savings is a must-see for fans of tense, timely ensemble drama.

(Stockholm Savings plays at VENUE #2: Flamboyan Theatre at the Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street, through August 30, 2015. Performances are Thu 8/20 at 9:15; Sun 8/23 at 2; Tue 8/25 at 7; Fri 8/28 at 5; and Sun 8/30 at Noon. There is no late seating at FringeNYC. Tickets are $18 and are available at fringenyc.org. For more information visit www.stockholmsavings.com.)

The Portable Dorothy Parker

Review by Regina Robbins

By Annie Lux; Directed by Lee Costello
Produced by Grove Goddess Productions

Part of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival

Off Off Broadway, Solo Show
Runs through 8.30.15 (2.30 pm)
VENUE #11: 64E4 MAINSTAGE, 64 East 4th Street

Margot Avery as Dorothy Parker in The Portable Dorothy Parker / Photo by Fredda Tone

BOTTOM LINE: The sharp-tongued lady drinks, quips, and reminisces in this comprehensive one-woman show.

Dorothy Parker is among the wittiest, most quotable writers in literary history. For this reason, she is a ripe subject for theatre. The Portable Dorothy Parker, written by Annie Lux and directed by Lee Costello, isn’t the first solo show to put Dottie center stage, and likely won’t be the last. For those who are already aficionados of Mrs. Parker’s wordcraft, it provides lots of “A-ha!” moments. Those who are less familiar with the subject will learn quite a lot about her by the time the performance is over.

The piece focuses on Mrs. Parker (as her friends from the Algonquin Round Table called her) at home in New York in the 1940s, working with an unseen editorial assistant to select poems and fiction for a collection of her writing called (you guessed it) The Portable Dorothy Parker. Every scrap of paper on her table leads to a story, or two or three, about her childhood, career, and love life. Add in an unceasing flow of alcohol and you’re on for a wild, dishy ride through early twentieth-century American letters.

As Dottie, Margot Avery shows remarkable stamina, holding the stage solo for the entire running time. The play contains more of Parker’s words and witticisms than you can shake a stick at, making it seem as if she uttered all of her most famous quips in the space of an afternoon. If you have read or heard these lines before (“You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think,” and “It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard” are prime examples), you might find the way they are crowded together here somewhat uninspired. But when all is said and done, the lady was funny.

The play does contain some serious moments, such as Parker’s memories of her ill-fated affair with playwright Charles MacArthur, and her yearning for the approval of macho novelist Ernest Hemingway. More of these would possibly have made The Portable Dorothy Parker stand out among the parade of one-woman shows based on the writer’s life. As it is, it’s a theatrical highlights reel of the career of one very smart, very drunk, very unique American character.

(The Portable Dorothy Parker plays at VENUE #11: 64E4 MAINSTAGE, 64 East 4th Street, through August 30, 2015. Performances are Thu 8/20 at 2:30; Sat 8/22 at 7; Mon 8/24 at 9; Thu 8/27 at 4:15; and Sun 8/30 at 2:30. There is no late seating at FringeNYC. Tickets are $18 and are available at fringenyc.org. For more information visit www.theportabledorothyparker.com.)

Joker

Review by Katharine Nedder

By Yilong Liu; Directed by Dan Dinero*
Produced by Quarter Acre
Part of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival

Off Off Broadway, Play

Final night 8.28.15 @ 7pm

VENUE #10: The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street

BOTTOM LINE: A completely captivating examination of choice, love, and loss through the lens of the marriage equality movement.

Joe (Ariel Estrada), his wife (Shirley Huang) and stepson (Troy Iwata) seem like a typical dysfunctional family; humor blends with a bitter domestic weariness as their failing restaurant and crumbling marriage becomes exposed. Mother and father fight, while son, the typical teenager, falls in love with a girl at school. The actors truly breathe truth into their characters and believe each word they say, drawing audiences in even while they do mundane tasks such as cleaning, setting tables, or making fortune cookies.

When Joe’s old friend Frank (Ray Santos) comes to dinner, this sense of normalcy turns on its head. Santos’ creation of an over-the-top character makes Frank a standout from his first entrance, and as tensions between Joe and Frank inexplicably grow audiences wait with baited breath for the next word from either man to see who will be the first to explode.

Frank brings with him the idea to make Joe’s restaurant “gay friendly,” creating comic distraction from his ulterior motives, returning Joe to the person he used to be. Behind all of this sits the Hawaiian fight for marriage equality, paralleling the internal struggles the characters face regarding relationships and sexuality. The audience slowly gains more insight into the characters' romantic past and sexuality as the fight for marriage equality heightens, personalizing the fight even for those audience members who may not be directly involved.

As the plot twists, and new details rapidly become revealed, the show picks up steam. Well constructed by playwright Yilong Liu, the naturalistic dialogue and acting style puts the audience almost in the mind of one of the characters, allowing them to experience the emotions of those felt onstage, internalizing the plot rather than analyzing. For anyone who has ever so much as had a crush, this show is a must.

(Joker plays at VENUE #10: The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street, through August 28, 2015. Performances are Sat 8/15 at 4:30; Tue 8/18 at 8; Sat 8/22 at 2:15; Mon 8/24 at 4:30; and Fri 8/28 at 7. There is no late seating at FringeNYC. Tickets are $18 and are available at fringenyc.org. For more information visit jokertheplay.com.)

*Director Dan Dinero is also the Associate Editor at Theatre Is Easy (Theasy.com)