New friendship can be such a roller-coaster ride—an indelicate dance of greeting, hesitation, and discovery, possibly resulting in lasting bonds of appreciation. John Ford Noonan's choppy tale of blossoming camaraderie between a suburban housewife and her newly met hick of a neighbor feels like a sitcom gone strangely soap operatic under the tutelage of its first-time director, Chris Pollock.
We enter Maude Mix's supposedly upscale kitchen in Westchester County, "one of the 10 richest spots" in America. Granted, the Next Stage's space is small, but Pollock's set (also credited to Karen Bukolt and Matt Williams) bears a stronger resemblance to a kitchenette in a mobile home. And what is it with the onstage timepieces? Kudos for patience goes to the unnamed stagehand who was forced to monkey with a plastic, battery-operated wall clock during all five scene changes.
Bukolt plays Maude with alternating moods of frigidity and hysteria, wearing what appears to be the unfriendliest of wigs. She finds herself suddenly besieged by Hannah Mae Bindler, a recent transplant from Austin, Texas. Beth Devakul provides her character only fleeting moments of touching genuineness. Wielding a distractingly over-the-top twang, Devakul comes off as a schizophrenic child rather than as the fount of homespun charm and advice playwright that Noonan devised to bring meaning back into Maude's anally retentive lifestyle.
All might be forgiven were Bukolt and Devakul to slow down and trust the moment. Pollock's failure to shape this piece beyond the most rudimentary pacing and intention leaves her actors appearing nervous as they rip through their conversations. Innumerable line flubs and obvious mental searches for dialogue were the result on opening night, as this relationship never made the transition from the script to any sense of reality. Other than for both women being married to louts, why these two would ever attain any level of friendship is only vaguely demonstrated, despite a subplot briefly referencing domestic abuse.
Regardless of these fairly monumental drawbacks, it is worth mentioning that profits from this production will be donated to an unnamed organization for preventing domestic abuse. Furthermore the show's sound design team has selected strikingly appropriate original transition songs, written and recorded by Zach Tison, Robbie McPherson, Mimi Chen, and a group referenced simply as Please.
"A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking," presented by Karen Bukolt and Chris Berube at The Next Stage, 1523 N. La Brea, Suite 208. Thu., 8 p.m. Jan. 8-indefinite. $10. (323) 906-9644.