Patience From The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company at The Howard Conn Theater

Sam Vinitsky as Reginald Bunthorne, Mallory Rabehl as Patience, and Joe Allen as Archibald Grosvenor

Patience is I believe my fifth Production of The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company (GSVLOC) and while it turns out to be my least favorite so far, it was still a very enjoyable evening. Perhaps it’s that it seems like they took a little less creative license with this one or maybe it’s because it’s one I was completely unfamiliar with. There is no “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” or resetting of the action to the Scottish highlands. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a thoroughly enjoyable production, because it is. Two things remain constant across all of the GSVLOC productions, the exquisiteness of the music from the orchestra under Musical Director Randal A. Buikema and the vocal quality of the actors. In fact this show may have contained my favorite vocal performance so far in that of Mallory Rabehl in the title role of Patience. Director Gary Briggle has done an excellent job of staging the opera and again as is always the case with GSVLOC productions, everything from the sets by Wendy Waszut-Barrett, costumes by Barb Portinga, lighting design by Carl Schoenborn and Choreography by Tinia Moulder, is top notch.

The plot of Patience involves 20 lovesick maidens who are all in love with the local aesthetic poet Reginald Bunthorne. Reginald however loves none of them but rather Patience, a dairy maid. Reginald does however love the attention the 20 lovesick maidens bestow upon him daily. When the Dragoon Guard return to discover that their former sweethearts are all now infatuated with Reginald they are at a loss. Enter Archibald Grovsvenor, whom loved and was loved by Patience when they were just five years old. Unfortunately, Archibald in the intervening 15 years, has become by his own modest estimation the most beautiful man in the world. Realizing that love needs to be unselfish they conclude that there is nothing unselfish about loving a perfect being and therefore, cannot marry. As you might have guessed the 20 lovesick maids on seeing Archibald, transfer their affection to him, all except Lady Jane, the oldest of the maids, who retains her devotion to Reginald. I don’t want to say any more about the plot but if you guessed that Jack and Larry have to pretend to be aesthetic poets to convince Mr. Furley that the women he saw them with down at the Regal Beagle, were just inspirations for their poems, then you get where it’s going.

The major theme of Patience is the satorizing of the late 1800’s aesthetic movement, and it is where much of the humor comes from. The portrayals of both Reginald and Archibald rely heavily on playing up the affectations of the aesthetic poet. Sam Vinitsky as Reginald is very funny playing up the role, not only as an actor but as the character who confides at one point that he hates aesthetic poetry as well. Joe Allen as Archibald, plays it with such elevated narcissism yet with just the perfect dash of charm that you don’t hate the character but affectionately roll your eyes at him. Allen does a complete about face towards the end and the change is striking and very fun. Another favorite in the cast was Lara Trujillo as Lady Jane, something about the way she played the character so devoted and so crushed when spurned was very amusing. As mentioned earlier Mallory Rabehl is extraordinary as Patience, her beautiful voice matches her characters purity and as my wife pointed out she’s cute as a button and uses it to instantly endear the audience to her character.

Patience runs through April 6th at The Howard Conn Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://gsvloc.org/on-stage/

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, Theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our Theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity.

Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

But that’s not all! You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

Dear Evan Hansen Will be Found at the Ordway

Michael Fabisch Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Dear Evan Hansen is the show you may know as the suicide musical. That is a fair description but it is also an extremely limiting one that doesn’t embrace the other aspects of the show. The show centers around the suicide of a troubled teenager named Connor Murphy, but what it explores is the need we all have for connection. The show doesn’t put its focus on Connor, the suicide happens off screen, he’s a character we see very little of before the suicide, and we are never told how or why it occurs. The focus is on the living and, through a misunderstanding, something positive can come of tragedy. That misunderstanding directly relates to the title of the musical. The main character Evan Hansen is inscructed to write himself a letter of positive reinforcements by his therapist. That letter his taken by Conner and is found on his body. His parents mistakenly assume that Connor is the author of the letter and that their friendless son was actually friends with the equally friendless Evan. Unable to correct the error and seeing the comfort it gives his parents, Evan creates a series of fake email exchange between himself and Connor that creates a fictitious friendship between the two. What starts as a well intentioned deception, snowballs into Evan who is raised by a single mother that works full time while also attending night school, becoming a surrogate son to the Murphy’s. This also brings Connor into close and frequent contact with Connor’s sister Zoe, whom he has a crush on. Eventually Evan and two fellow classmates, Jared and Alana create The Connor Project to shine a spotlight on Connor. The message Evan conveys in the song “You Will Be Found” with the lyrics:

You are not alone Even when the dark comes crashing through And you need someone to carry you When you’re broken on the ground You will be found
Lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

What the show does extremely well is capture the reality of being a teenager and a parent in our time. What parent can’t relate to the sentiments expressed in the first song “Anybody Have a Map?“

Another Stellar Conversation for the scrapbook Another stumble as I’m reaching for the right thing to say I’m kinda coming up empty, can’t find my way to you Does anybody have a map? Anybody maybe happen to know how the hell to do this?
Lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

It does a great job as well of allowing us to empathize with Evan’s actions. We know they are wrong and cannot end well. But the character of Evan is so well crafted that by the time when get to the initial misunderstanding, we know his character well enough to understand what he’s needing in his life, what his problems are, and what his desires are. The show portrays the incidents in a way that we fully understand how and why the character of Evan, young and fragile as he is, makes the choices he makes. When he feels like it needs to be ended another reward appears and lures him deeper into the lie.

In this production, the second that I’ve seen not including the disasteriously cast film version, I was extremely impressed with the younger members of the cast playing the teenagers. Michael Fabisch is excellent as Evan Hansen with a voice that seems perfectly suited for the range in which the characters songs are written. He is very engaging while also conveying the characters awkwardness and anxieties. Hatty Ryan King as Zoe also sounds great really shining on the songs “Requiem” and in the duet with Evan “Only Us”. Makena Jackson as Alana and Gabriel Vernon Nunag as Jared also capture their characters really well. Both bringing personalities that create moments of humor in their accurate portrayals of recognizable young high school types, both their positive and negative qualities. It’s the young cast that really stands out in this production.

The set design by David Korins which consists of a few tableaus that roll on and off the stage as needed, like a dining room table or Evan’s bedroom is simple but effective. The primary design element though is the projections designed by Peter Nigrini which are cast upon large screen panels staggered throughout the stage. On it, we see social media and texting messages which reminds us of the ways in which today’s teenagers have grown up with this technology. Its constant presence on stage reflects its role in their lives and in a show about alienated and disconnected youth it’s presence is a clue as to why that is. Interestingly, it’s also the conduit by which Evans message that you are not alone goes viral. Steven Levenson’s book for the show wisely shows us the dangers of the technology while also understanding that realistically it isn’t going to go away and so we need to use it positively as well.

Dear Evan Hansen is a very good musical with a lot of standout songs and a positive message. This is dark subject matter but the authors have found the appropriate level of humor to create an entertaining and rewarding night of musical theater. Dear Evan Hansen runs through March 16th at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/dear-evan-hansen/

Which Middle Name of ‘Philip Seymour Hoffman’ are YOU? at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis

How do you write about this? That’s the first thing that I said when it was over. I think the best description I can give for theater folk is that it is super Fringey. But not everyone knows what that means and might think it has a negative connotation, it doesn’t. It’s almost like saying it’s unique, creative, or atypical of live theater, unless of course you are at a Fringe Festival, than something described as being very Fringey is very much like everything else, except probably completely different. Now that I’ve clarified that and used as many words as possible to do so, let me tell you the premise of the show. Two friends are trying to prove that an online quiz they took titled Which Middle Name of ‘Philip Seymour Hoffman’ are YOU? to which the answer is always Seymour. Of course it’ll also give the incorrect answer which is Seymoure, with an E at the end. Why do they want to prove this? Because the creator of the quiz Doug Pickle has threatened to cancel them unless they can prove that the answer of Seymoure actually appears. They have taken the quiz thousands of times and never been able to repeat the answer of Seymoure that they once got.

That is the set up, the punchline is the next 75 minutes which is spent racing around the theater having volunteers from the audience take the quiz. If that sounds like it would get boring or repetitive, fear not. The writers Jake Mierva and Danylo Loutchko who also perform the show along with their computer person Sarah Halverson, who can be seen folding laundry between quizes, have solved the repetition issue. Each time you take the quiz it’s completely different, but even more than the questions changing the humorous idea behind each round of questions changes. Not to give too much away but for example one round might be trivia questions about Philip Seymour Hoffman, the next might show you pictures and ask you what sound is this picture? The variety of the quizes along with the surprises that might come from the audiences answers is from where much hilarity ensues. For those who dread interactive shows, rest assured you have to raise your hand and volunteer, and you learn fairly quickly it’s a safe place to volunteer. There are also some side bits that get performed throughout the show between quizes which are clever. Like the repeated deliveries from Doug Pickle which taunt them, and motivational speeches when one of them starts feeling hopeless and wants to give up. Mierva and Loutchko’s manic energy alone is worth the time and price of admission.

Which Middle Name of ‘Philip Seymour Hoffman’ are YOU? is incredibly silly and fun and is running through March 16th at The Phoenix Theater in Uptown. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://allegedtheatre.com/on-stage/

The Messenger is Scarily Relevant, Attendance Should be Required at Six Points Theater

The Messenger a new play by Jenny Connell Davis is a powerful and important work that needs to be seen by as many people as possible. Told from the perspective of four women in different time periods The Messenger explores the reality of hate and how it endures. Their gender of the characters is in and of itself an important choice Davis makes. We hear these four testimonials play out and while it is being produced at Six Points and three of the four stories do revolve around the holocaust in some way, it is not a play simply about anti semitism. It is about how hate of any kind is given power, how well intentioned or fearful people become complicit in it’s growth. Davis has the Woman tell us their stories directly because hearing facts is less impactful than hearing someone’s personal story. Facts often leave our minds leaving behind vague impressions of a general topic, but stories create emotional responses and empathy that generates a longer lasting understanding of not just what happened but how it affected the teller. The Messenger powerfully provokes emotional responses to the stories it shares, some of anger, grief, understanding, and inspiration.

inspired in part by Georgia Gabor, a math teacher and a Jewish Holocaust survivor who tells students in Pasadena California about her experiences in WWII. Georgia is played expertly by Laura Esping and her retellings to her students of her experiences are harrowing. Espings performance displays an understanding of the characters mindset. She has survived and she has made it a point to share her story wherever and whenever she can. She does not breakdown or get emotional, she is teaching, she tells her truths in a way that conveys the gravity of what her words mean and to ensure understanding. Her accent is also superbly done. Her story is intertwined with that of Angela, played by Tracey Maloney, who is a helicopter parent in 1993. She starts a petition when she learns that Georgia is telling her students about her experiences during and after the war. Maloney perfectly captures the clueless entitlement and dangerous censorship masquerading as parental protectiveness. Maloney’s performance success can be measured by how much she makes your skin crawl, mine almost made it off my body and out of the theater. She is absolutely chilling in her cheerfulness.

Julia Isabel Diaz plays Gracie an archivist at a museum in 1969 who discovers some documents that are not catalogued that throw an unflattering light on a U.S. WWII General. Her employers do not want the document to be put forward despite its historical importance. The rationale is why tarnish the good name of an American hero? Gracie loves her job and Diaz lays the groundwork in her initial scenes which are about her initial internship and then being hired, the enthusiasm is a stark contrast to the emotional turmoil she displays later when it is made clear that she has a bright future at the museum if she just buries the documents. Ashley Horiuchi plays the final character Annie, a young asian woman who is also linked with the museum, but in 2020 as a student volunteer. Horiuchi is very believable as a fifteen year old teenager in a grade conscious Pasadena school. Her character starts of with the kind of attitude that makes those of us who were or are parents of teenagers role our eyes in recognition. There is also a sort of defensive mean girl aspect to the character that eventually is broken down. She allows us to come to a understanding of the girls feelings and emotions, taking us from eye rolls to sympathy. When she is witness to and involved in an act of prejudice she stays silent. The message of the play and of these characters in particular is that silence allows hate to flourish. What is important with these characters is it makes the situations in which Gracie and Annie remain silent understandable, we can comprehend why they keep silent, making them sympathetic characters, but it also wisely shows us the price of their silence on their mental state and the world around them.

When I was in school we learned that we study history because if we don’t do so and learn from it, that history will repeat itself. As we look around our world today we can see the truth in that lesson. What is the cause? Why did we not learn from the past? Is it the Mothers who didn’t want their children to know about the atrocities of the past? In saving their children the discomfort of facing some ugly facts did the doom all of society to repeat our darkest hours. Did they contribute to the downfall of our educational system with their over protectiveness creating generations that don’t really grasp what happened and why? Or is it that we hid things that we thought would embarrass us as a nation, thinking they didn’t really matter. Not knowing that to confront all of our darkest moments was the only way to stay in the light? Or is it the silence of fear, the advice given to many to keep your head down, ignore the hate and it will go away. But it doesn’t go away, it only grows stronger when you are not watching it.

The Messenger is probably the most important play you will see this year and I wish I could enforce the “will see” of that sentence. For those of you turned off by the dark subject matter, know that it is dark but it is also very illuminating. It’s not a fun show, but it also isn’t a difficult show to sit through, it is very rewarding and helps clarify the reality of hate and how it spreads. With that understanding we can hopefully be better about finding ways to fight back against the encroaching darkness. The Messenger runs through March 23 at Six Points theater for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.sixpointstheater.org/the-messenger

“When Children Learn to devalue others, they can learn to devalue anyone, including their parents” – Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, Theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our Theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity.

Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

But that’s not all! You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

Hundred Days is a Beautiful Rousing Joyous Show at the Elision Playhouse.

The entire wonderful cast of *Hundred Days* Photo by Jolie Morehouse Olson

Theatre Elision’s latest production Hundred Days feels like a cross between a concert and the musical sections of Once if you’ve seen the stage musical version performed. There are two performers playing the characters of the shows songwriting duo Abigail and Shaun Bengson plus six musicians. The story, which is implied to be autobiographical tells the love story of Abigail and Shaun through folk-punk music. The 100 days of the title refers to a dream Abigail has had since the age of 15 where she’s seated in a booth at a diner with her husband and told by a Dr. that he will die in 100 days. When Shaun discovers this, and it’s the reason she’s pulling away, they decide to try and live an entire lifetime in those 100 days. It’s an interesting premise and as good as any to use as a structure for the duo’s songs, whether or not it is true. To be clear, I don’t know nor does it matter. What is true are the emotions the characters are feeling, the rush of feeling that initial spark of connection, of talking all night telling each other your life story, the things you share, and the things you keep hidden. If you think back on those romances that have been significant in your life, doesn’t it feel like those first hundred days are like a lifetime of excitement and discovery?

Christine Wade and Ryan Lee play Abigail and Shaun, with Lee also strumming away on guitar throughout. They are perfect together, with their voices complimenting each other beautifully. They also both have the acting chops to pull us into the darker moments. Those moments are few, but do require someone with the skills to convey them in basically a concert staging rather than the way a traditional play or musical would be staged. Taking this even further out of the realm of traditional theater, the actors interact a bit with the members of the band who also provide vocals. While Lee and Wade are definitely the leads, the band is so integral to the joyous mood of the piece that I have to list them as well. So much talent on view here with Emily Hensley on accordion, Benjamin Emory Larson on keyboards, Joni Griffith on Violin, Rae Wasson on Cello (surely the most poignant of instruments), Miles Whealy on drums, and Harrison Wade on guitar and also the Musical Director of the production. Together they create an atmosphere that I’d almost describe as rowdy but not in a bad way. There is at times almost an Irish Pub band feel to it that I just loved. I wouldn’t mind getting to this again before the run ends, it really does feel like an hour and change spent listening to some great music, but with the added element of a love story.

I found Hundred Days to be an uplifting and beautiful musical jam session. The show runs through March 22nd at the Elision Playhouse in Crystal. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.elisionproductions.com/hundreddays

more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, Theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our Theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity.

Fifty Boxes of Earth From Theater Mu is Good In Spite of its Missteps at Park Square Theatre

Alex Galick, Mina Moua, & Che’Li Photo by Rich Ryan

Fifty Boxes of Earth by Ankita Raturi is having its world premier from Theater Mu at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. It is a two hour play with a lot of interpretive dance that would be greatly improved with four words Ninety Minutes, Less Movement. At its heart it is a play about xenophobia and transphobia, but it loses its clarity by trying to force some sort of variation of the Dracula legend upon its narrative. The story revolves around a community garden in which three characters interact. Q has just moved to this country and brings with them 50 boxes of earth. This is a take on Dracula’s 50 boxes of his native soil that he needs to fill his coffins with. Q meets John, who manages the community garden in which Q has reserved a plot. The third character is John’s daughter Mina, who prefers to be called Harker. Q is the other, John is the bigot, and Harker is the way the world should be. John takes an instant distrust to Q, while Harker and Q bond over the planting of their garden and talk of Q’s son who will be coming to live with them after the garden is ready. The garden grows strange things and in foreign dirt, so John does everything he can to sabotage Q’s garden, even trying to destroy it.

Raturi’s script builds effective relationships between the three characters and that is its strength. The weakness as I’ve mentioned is the attempt to somehow tie this to the Dracula mythology. I know they are trying to view that through a modern lense, but nothing really matches up in any way that justifies the connection. Make it a alternate world and it still works as a modern day fairytale or myth. Director KT Shorb accompanies the narrative with five ensemble players, choreographed by Ananya Chatterjea, who dance about and seem to represent the plants of the garden, or the gardens mental health. I’m not the best with interpretive dance. Though I didn’t dislike what the ensemble did necessarily, I do think there was too much of it. The story doesn’t need any of it, but it would have been better if it merely occurred during the action of the play, but it felt at multiple times, including the opening, that it was merely adding to the runtime. Those more into dance might feel differently. Technically the show is excellent with nice set design work by Mina Kinukawa, Puppet Designs and builds by Oanh Vu & Andrew Young, very immersive sound design and musical compositions by Katharine Horowitz, and effective Lighting design by Karin Olson.

The five Ensemble players are Eliana Durnbaugh, Kiko Laureano, Mars Niemi, Alyssa Taiber, and Taylor West and while they do what they are asked very well, I think they are over utilized. Q’s plants grow very rapidly and without having either very elaborate props or frequent long blackouts, the ensemble is necessary to produce those changes on stage and that alone would have been effective. The problem is that it feels like the Director and Choreographer felt the need to justify the dancers presence and so expanded the movement into something that detracts from the story. The three leads are all very compelling as is the central plot and the themes it explores, it doesn’t benefit from a supposed Dracula connection. Che’Li plays Q who is the stand in for Dracula, if Dracula wasn’t a villain, didn’t need to avoid sunlight, didn’t drink the blood of their victims, or really do anything mean, cruel, or… wait how is Q Dracula again? Alex Galick plays John who we assume must be a stand in for Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s novel, except here he’s a terrible xenophobic fact denier whose actions are unconscionable. Mina Moua plays Mina aka Harker and the relationship she and Che’Li develop in the roles is the heart of the play and it’s greatest accomplishment. Galick’s performance as John is superb, I know because I got so angry at him during the performance that I caught myself giving him the finger. When an actor makes you react that viscerally it’s usually a combination of the actors talent and the writer’s skill at character creation.

Ultimately there are more positives than negatives and I do recommend the show. I write so much about the misteps because they are what holds it from going from a good play to a very good play. The truth is, you don’t have to change anything but the characters names and no one in a million years would draw any comparison to Dracula. The fifty boxes of earth can work as it’s own device in this modern day myth, the number which comes from Stoker’s story can be changed to four, considering that is the number of boxes they actually use in the play. Do that, so you are not distracting the audience by having them try and create in their mind a correlation to the famous novel that just wont come into focus. Honestly, the story doesn’t need it. Trim 15 to 20 minutes, most of it movement unrelated to anything needed in terms of set and plot, and you have a very good, maybe even great play. As it is the greatness is there and hopefully those who read this review and attend the show will have their expectations set appropriately and will ignore any thoughts of vampires and just enjoy the story at hand and know that the dancing, while too long, doesn’t ever go on ridiculously too long.

Fifty Boxes of Earth runs through March 16th at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatermu.org/fifty-boxes

More than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, Theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our Theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity.

The Effect at the Jungle Theater

Kamani Graham and Becca Claire Hart Photo by Janet Eckles Media

The Effect is brilliant at smuggling in multiple ideas within a 90 minute entertaining story. It’s one of my favorite types of plays, I don’t mean 90 minutes no intermission, but that is always a plus. What I’m referring to is a play that tackles serious or thought provoking themes, but does it with humor and an emotional story that we as an audience can connect with. Written by Lucy Prebble,The Effect follows two test subjects, Tristan and Connie, for a clinical trial of a new antidepressant medication. When the two begin to develop feelings for each they are uncertain whether the feelings are real or actually a side effect of the medication. We also Follow the story of those conducting the trial Dr. Lorna James and Dr. Toby Sealey, who have a complicated past. The play is designed to bring up a lot of questions that it doesn’t answer, which is great, because they don’t have definitive answers, they are questions calculated to make us think. It makes us think about Love, Drugs, Depression, guilt, bias, responsability, connection, and morality. It’s also really quite funny and charming.

Kamani Graham who plays Tristan is not someone I’ve seen before but I hope to see a lot more of. Graham creates an easy rapport with Becca Claire Hart who plays Connie, drawing the more reserved Connie out with his humor and carefree approach to life. Hart does a great job of showing us Connie’s guarded nature, her tendency to overthink every situation. The two play their characters so well that it’s very easy to believe that their attraction as they both embody a quality the other lacks but could maybe use a little of. Dr. Lorna James is played by The Jungle Theater’s Artistic Director Christina Baldwin and Dr. Toby Sealey is portrayed by Greg Watanabe. Baldwin plays her character as strong and in control, but by the end reveals her to be perhaps the most fragile of the four. Watanabe brings a likeability that is key to making his character more than just a representative of big pharm, he isn’t supposed to just be a stand in for a villain, he’s meant to represent someone who is trying to do their best in an imperfect world. He has faults, but he also cares.

Technically the show is very accomplished, from the set design by Benjamin Olsen to the Costumes by Sarah Bahr which have an authentic clinical feel. But what really worked very well is the Projections which were designed by Leslie Ritenour. Throughout the play we get everything from messages like “Dosage increase to 100mg” to brain scan images. We also get these abstract images that look like chemical reactions in the brains which just really helped to convey what was happening between Tristan and Connie.

The Effect runs through March 30th at the Jungle Theater in uptown. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.jungletheater.org/the-effect