Employee Appreciation a Sound Play, Now Enjoy Theater In the Comfort of Your Own Home or Car.

Employee Appreciation Day is something a little different. More akin to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society shows that I frequently cover than Live Theater. But unlike those performances where the MORLS create live audio drama in front on an audience, this is audio drama that has been pre- recorded and available via this YouTube link to listen for free https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPPR_qsSNk&ab_channel=WorkLightFilms. So why review this “sound play” as the creators call it? Well for one thing, I’m all about trying to share my love of theater, and this is a way for folks to listen to a play while they’re perhaps in the car on their way to their summer vacation destination. I met the Writer and Director Phil Holt at last years Minnesota Fringe Festival where I positively reviewed his show Rewrites. In that show, I liked Holt’s Surreal plot and use of humor. Employee Appreciation Day is not a perfect play but I think anyone who has worked in the corporate sector will find a lot to enjoy in this comedic look at the work life.

The story is a look at all the ridiculous decisions and managerial B.S. that is corporate America in the 21st century. We have characters we identify with, like Eugene, who hasn’t seen a single one of his kids baseball games all year because his boss Kelly always needs him to work late. There’s also his co-worker Buddy who is just trying to keep his head down. Many of the characters are ones those of us who have spent time in large corporations will recognize. The Manager Kelly who uses corporate lingo and faux motivational and inclusive language to serve her own purposes. Mr. Malcolmson the President of Corporate Corp Incorporated who is completely out of touch with what it’s like not to make millions a year for being an idiot. His great plan is to spend a ton of money on an employee appreciation day to distract the employees from the fact they are going to do a mass layoff in order to cut costs. And there’s Chad the new employee who comes in and gets put in charge of projects over Eugene who has been there working extra hours for six years. He’s the weasel who does everything he can to usurp any authority or sense of ownership Eugene has, like take away the collecting for the office lottery pool and then leaving Eugene out of it. It’s basically a send up in the vein of Office Space.

Tim Perfect, whose performance is top notch as the put upon Eugene leads the cast. He gets the frustration, the anger, and the glee in the final scene just right. Magdalen Powers really captures in the character of Kelly, that tone that she’s above her subordinates and the whole corporate double talk. Rachel Ratkowski is Melody, the HR employee who has to deal with one crisis after another and gets the harried quality in her voice as well as handling a moment of a hysterical breakdown perfectly. I also want to mention Steven Todd Smith as Mr. Malcolmson whose completely clueless as the boss. The one issue with the performances in general is the pacing. I understand that the performances were captured via a zoom call and I’m sure that’s the reason, but the issue is that most lines feel like they are coming a second or two too late. The script also uses the technique of having characters repeat each others lines back in a questioning form much too frequently, a little of that goes a long way. The script builds to a moment of wonderful wish fulfillment but the details of that moment don’t really make sense and pull you out of the story questioning some of the logic.

Ultimately I had a lot of fun with this audio play. I think it would adapt well into a play or film and hopefully someone will take on the project in future. In the meantime, check out Employee Appreciation Day today, it’s free and funny, once again click here to access it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPPR_qsSNk&ab_channel=WorkLightFilms

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