Photo Source: Steven Williams
In six short plays the Red Fern Theatre Company aims to explore the different facets and misconceptions of political campaigns. The bill opens with J. Holtham's "Occupied," about an Occupy-inspired protest by a group of actors, one of whom complains about the sexist and racist nature of the demonstration. Next is "Equal Time," a bland musicalization of a presidential debate in which all of Kristen Lee Rosenfeld and Luanne Aronen Rosenfeld's songs sound the same, Brad Gardner's musical direction is painfully obvious, and none of the four singers is particularly strong. I did find it an interesting choice to make the African-American female candidate (Cicily Daniels, a standout) a Republican and the white male a Democrat.
Following is Anna Moench's "Pull!," in which a New Yorker comes home to her rifle-happy family in South Dakota with her comically liberal fiancé, who manages to alienate everyone with his raw-food evangelism. (Debargo Sanyal makes him perfectly detestable.) "What the Wall Does," by Rob Askins, finds a sleazy mayor (Lou Liberatore) and his aide in a sex booth getting blowjobs through a wall. Their encounter with the free spirits behind the wall is random and hard to believe.
Jen Silverman's "Lex Before Marriage" possesses the evening's more touching moments, with moving scenes between two step cousins, Lex and Clyde, who are grappling to understand and accept each other. However, Silverman parallels the endearing elements of her work with an over-the-top parody of a good girl brought down by society. In the end, the parts don't fit well at all, though Erin Buckley's performance as Lex is notable. Finally, "America, You Kill Me" takes the cake for being the most bizarre play of the bunch. Two blindly activist 20-somethings are victims when a drunk driver hits their car. It's supposed to be some sort of slasher black comedy, with the two college students slowly dying—Will Seefried quite comically—as the drunk driver pleads with them not to call the police, for fear of his going to jail.
The problem in most of these one-acts lies in the writing, as no character seems to be treated fairly. We don't see the human side of these individuals caught in the mess that is politics, only society's caricatured perception of them.
Presented by the Red Fern Theatre Company at the Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 E. 14th St., NYC. Jan. 28–Feb. 12. Thu.–Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m. (Additional performance Mon., Feb. 6, 7 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 12, performance is at 3 p.m.) (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.redferntheatre.com.
