Photo Source: Carol Rosegg
Philosophy student Sarah discusses her family's motivations as well as her own, as she is a college senior studying for an impractical degree in philosophy. Throughout the play, she delivers soliloquies, dimly lit by designer Paul Miller, pontificating on what she's learned and how it relates to her family's problems. These monologues, while performed well by Lauren Ashley Carter, interrupt the plot and don't add significantly to the action. Sarah's constant questioning has gotten her into trouble, from getting kicked out of the Girl Scouts to not being able to keep a boyfriend. Her mother, Risa (a subtle Hillary B. Smith), wishes Sarah would stop. However, Risa is one to talk.
At the beginning of the play, Risa, who has been having an affair, has left Sarah's father, Lenny (Paul Michael Valley). Lenny, a public school teacher, is the calm and steady type, and while he lays low after the breakup, the split throws off his routine. He mopes in his den (impressive architectural design by Dirk Durossette) until his friend Mickey (an outstanding Michael Mastro) charges in and interrupts the respite. Mickey is shocked that Lenny is not watching the football game, as it is Monday night, but when he learns that Lenny has also missed his school's annual parents night—an event he has never missed—Mickey decides to take matters into his own hands.
Mickey is an action man and, without revealing too much of the plot, he performs the ultimate action. But Lenny is the anti-action man. Risa left him because he stopped making her feel wanted, and Sarah prods her father for not standing up to Risa and stating his desires. When he finally does man up, however, it's unclear whether he does so because he wants to or because the women in his life force him to. Director Bud Martin has a nice sense of timing with Graham's crisp dialogue, but the plot starts to drag in the second act.
Lenny never truly takes ownership of his own manhood, but that's partially Graham's point. The character's actions are never his own; they are always planted in his head by someone else despite originating as his own unspoken desires. But where does any motivation come from if not from an external being or action? In the end, the play is as indecisive as Lenny himself.
Presented by Act II Playhouse at 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St., NYC. Oct. 12–Nov. 6. Tue.–Thu., 7:15 p.m.; Fri., 8:15 p.m.; Sat., 2:15 and 8:15 p.m.; Sun., 3:15 p.m. (212) 279-4200 or www.59e59.org. Casting by Cindi Rush Casting.
