A group of four student-written short plays premieres this evening at Production Workshop's "Three Chairs, Two Cubes." Presented by PW every semester, the show boasts a unique opportunity for up-and-coming student playwrights to display their works, or, as one might assume given the quality of tonight's productions, works in progress.
From first to last, the plays include "The Fifth Law of Quantum Mechanics (or Static Motion and the Women's Restroom)", "Reconstructing Rastagar," "Soap," and "Evelyn and the Universe: A Self-Centered, Obsessive-Compulsive Love Story." Themes explored in the shorts range from the intimate and mundane, such as the uncomfortable farce of in-home business transactions, to the more political, like conflicting takes on a fledgling lesbian relationship.
Though superficially the brief pieces seem to have little in common with one another, they are subliminally linked by a common thread - they all feature the same five stage props indicated by the title of the series. The three chairs and two cubes are used for onstage furniture or whatever best suits the individual play. If these parameters seem limiting at first, by the end of the festival it becomes clear that with a little creative staging, nothing is outside the realm of possibility - that is as long as the viewer can supplement the apparent lack of real set ornamentation with a little imagination.
In "The Fifth Law," written by Matt Kelly '06, the chairs take on multiple roles - first as makeshift sinks in twin bathrooms, then as cushions for a roll call of monologues, delivered by each of the four cast members. The plot remains simple - two pairs of women meet simultaneously in two separate public restrooms, banter for a few moments in overlapping dialogue and then interpret their encounters in a series of confessional speeches.
While the women vary in age and personality, putting them at immediate and formidable odds with one another, striking similarities between the women are later revealed as they recount the run-ins. For some, it will seem obvious that the play has been penned by a man - the all-female ensemble is populated by cartoon-like, unilateral characterizations of women, some of whom basically define themselves as extensions of their make-up or sex organs - but a likelier interpretation would accept this stereotyping as essential to the playwright's message.
The play uses contrast as its central metaphor, the squabbles of the first scene's rapid discourse set against the more personal admissions of the second. By the end, Kelly treats the audience to a subtle outline of the driving motives at stake in a public urinal.
Jennifer Silverman's '06 "Reconstructing Rastagar" places the spectators in the middle of what seems to be a lesbian saga's latest chapter. Adhi cannot understand why her free spirited, sexy elder sister, Rastagar, never returns her phone calls. Meanwhile, Medira cannot understand why Rastagar, her live-in girlfriend, snubs her affection.
Ultimately, misunderstanding prevails, as the audience cannot understand why the title character is so sorely missed by her consorts. Brittain Youngblood '07 plays Rastagar as a nubile, promiscuous lesbian who has just discovered her own sex appeal and whose delusions of grandeur can only be the end products of a severe megalomania. Meanwhile, both Allison Laplatney '07 and Thea Cohen '08 - Adhi and Medira respectively - seem stiff in their roles, their only hint at real, underlying character evinced by their Birkenstocks and clogs. As proved in her masterful Rites and Reason play, "Double Negative," playwright Silverman possesses an impressive flair for lyricism, and her writing here is similarly beautiful. But where is the hard-edged tension of her first play? Ultimately, this piece introduces the viewer to people who seem like not much more than social clichés.
After all this pathos, "Soap" is a breath of fresh air. A charming, fluffy piece of domestic comedy, this one-act by Brendan Pelsue '08 presents the audience with the absurd friendship forged by Irene, a well-intentioned but socially myopic homemaker, and Milton, a crisp, professionally-minded soap salesman.
Evoking the bubbly, comic vibrancy of a latter-day Carol Kane, Lizzie Vieh '07 emerges as perhaps the most compelling and compulsively watchable actress of the evening. Her timing is clean, and she achieves just the right mixture of unsettled jumpiness and sympathetic anxiety to make her character interesting to the last minute. Unfortunately, Matthew Sledge '08 seems less confident in his soap salesman role, and in attempt to play off his woodenness, Vieh occasionally looks a bit ill at ease. Though the play ends abruptly, the most laughs were earned - and rightfully so - during their delightful repartee.
Rounding out the evening, Emily Drumsta's '06 "Evelyn and the Universe" is the fractured tale of a real American paradigm - the delusional, maundering, obsessive-compulsive urbanite. More specifically, the narrative follows the life of Evelyn, and her futile, embarrassing attempts at getting her groove back.
Of course, the "groove" in question is romantic fulfillment, and Drumsta dispatches a fleet of potential matches for her character's selection. Whom will she choose? Maxwell, her nebbish, hedge-trimming neighbor? Bernie, her stereotypical and gaggingly greasy landlord? Or perhaps Julian, the recent Soviet immigrant whose "wet paint" sign incites in Evelyn a catatonic screaming fit of lonely tears? One by one, the protagonist alienates them all.
Clothed in Miss Muffet pantaloons and a shimmery, panicked smile, Gabrielle Fuentes '08 is certainly aggressive as the demented Evelyn, and her stage presence - in most actresses more disagreeable and threatening than pleasant and engaging - feels right at home in this play. Still, her performance occasionally feels wasted, as she is given nothing to play off of - an oversight attributable only to the directing. With neither chair nor cube in sight, Fuentes must content herself to flounce aimlessly around the stage, and the audience is expected to pick up the make-believe pieces.
Despite the loose ends and sloppy moments of all four productions, plaudits should be awarded to virtually everyone involved in the plays for their bravery and intrepid dedication to staging original work. It is never easy to realize something new, even less so with set restrictions. By the end of their first performance, the players seemed pleased - and in many ways, this should serve as validation enough for anyone who has ever wanted to write a play.
Performances of "Three Chairs, Two Cubes" run throughout the weekend in PW's downstairs space.
