Presented by SoHo Think Tank at The Ohio Theatre, 66 Wooster Street, NYC, June 15-July 1.
In a toxic fusion of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Robert Lyons' "P.R. Man" fiddles with the push-pull of cynicism and idealism. The slyly named Paul Mann (Chris Henry Coffey), the "P.R. Man" in question, evolved from a dreamy-eyed journalist into a front man for a consortium of toxic waste companies.
Returning to his Michigan roots to shill for sludge, two assistants join him: saucy Tilly (Paula Ehrenberg) and thuggish Finny (Kevin Elden). They may yet persuade the innocent, idealistic town of Centerline that "Biosoil" is benign.
Meanwhile, Heidi (Susan Rutledge)—Mann's ex-girlfriend—is immersed in anti-Biosoil fever, a movement led by Rodney (Martin Epstein), an unreconstructed socialist with a Viagra-sized sexual appetite and overwrought recollections of the Spanish Civil War.
For a town meeting, Heidi recruits the controversial Dr. Dickie (Michael Berry), a mercenary author and environmentalist, to slam sludge. Neighborhood slacker Billy (Thomas Shaw) helps out, but he's not exactly fervent.
As the sludge fest begins, a rollicking series of scenes, vignettes, minor storylines, and blackout sketches unfold, with Lyons' wit, commentary, and satire lacerating through humor, not propaganda. Lyons' direction of the play flirts mercilessly with absurdism, and it rubs off on the actors.
Coffey, for example, is quite a Mann—a little noir, a little Donny Osmond. Elden as rambunctious Finny is demented fun, as is Ehrenberg as a gothic party girl with an evil streak.
Shaw is wonderfully dry as a typical slacker. Rutledge makes a righteous Heidi, and Berry is channeling Charles Bronson in a very good year as Dr. Dickie. To be fair, all the actors provoke laughter—in bursts, not gales. You know the audience is thinking.
As Candy, a hooker, and as Dr. Bodkinkowski, a chain-smoking tobacco advocate, Alison Cimmet chews Scott Laule's scenery wonderfully in her few scenes, while Tyler Micoleau's lighting and Shelley Norton's costumes set some bonfires of their own.