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Zach Theatre
April 25, 2012
Review: 'The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later'
Over a decade ago, Tectonic Theater Project, led by director Moises Kaufman, traveled to Laramie, Wyoming to interview town residents after the 1998 murder of a young gay man named Matthew Shepard.
It was an event that created a media frenzy and quickly became part of a national conversation about hate crimes. From their interviews, the company created a richly layered documentary play, “The Laramie Project,” still performed frequently at theaters across the country.
As the tenth anniversary of Shepard’s death approached, Kaufman and the company conducted new interviews with Laramie residents and created an epilogue of sorts called “The Laramie Project 10 Years Later,” currently running at Zach Theatre, directed by Dave Steakley.
What the company members discovered is that while there have been some visible measures of progress, rumors have started to swirl (based largely on an episode of ‘20/2’) that Shepard’s murder was not a hate crime at all, but a drug-fueled robbery gone bad. What drives the play is the company members’ efforts to both understand what’s behind this interpretation and ultimately to challenge it.
Like the original, the show is full of memorable characters whose words have the power to illuminate, surprise, and disturb. It’s performed deftly by a terrific cast, each playing multiple roles. One stand-out moment is a scene in which Catherine Connolly (Sarah Richardson), a Democrat in the Wyoming state legislature, takes the audience through a high-stakes vote on the state’s Defense of Marriage Bill.
Another is a tense conversation between company member Greg Pierotti (Martin Burke) and Shepard’s killer Aaron McKinney who is currently serving a life sentence (played with chilling calm by Frederic Winkler). Amidst the uniformly strong performances, actor Harvey Guion shines in his many roles, particularly as the priest who arranges the jail visit.
What makes “The Laramie Project 10 Years Later” so compelling is the way it shows how history gets reinterpreted and politicized over time. Though “The Laramie Project 10 Years Later” is darker and more complicated than the original play, it raises important (and incredibly relevant) questions about memory, history, and contemporary politics.
And if somehow you’ve never seen “The Laramie Project,” (Part 1) you can still catch it playing in repertory with its epilogue, with a dinner break in between, on Saturday April 28, May 5, and May 12.
‘The Laramie Project 10 Years Later’ 7:30 p.m Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through May 13, Zach Theatre’s Kleberg Stage, 1510 Toomey Road. $28-$69. www.zachtheatre.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk Tuck.
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March 20, 2012
Zach Theatre announces 2012-2013 season
With the opening of its new $22 million Topfer Theatre in fall, Zach Theatre will mount its most ambitious production yet, a fully-orchestrated version of “Ragtime,” the Tony-winning musical based on the novel E.L. Doctorow.
“Ragtime” is the first of Zach’s newly announced 2012-2013 season.
Also on the roster is a new stage production of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy “Harvey” starring Martin Burke and a new play by Austin writer Steven Dietz called “Mad Beat Hip & Gone.”
“Greater Tuna” star Jaston Williams will perform “Tru,” a one-man show about Truman Capote. And noted pianist Anton Nel will perform Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations in Moises Kaufman’s “33 Variations” featuring pianist Anton Nel who will perform live in Kaufman’s thoughtful exploration of the creative process.
See www.zachtheatre.org for more information.
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January 31, 2012
Review: 'Next to Normal'
In the opening moments of “Next to Normal,” the emotionally charged musical currently running at Zach Theatre, a mother, father, sister, and brother (The Goodman family) cheerfully go about their morning routines.
Until they notice that mom is kneeling on the floor, obsessively assembling dozens of bologna sandwiches. They all stop and stare. Maybe this is not going to be such a “normal” day after all.
Directed by Dave Steakley, “Next to Normal” tells the story of Diana Goodman (Meredith McCall), a suburban housewife with a long history of bipolar disorder. Her relapse after a period of calm launches the family into turbulence.
While Diana undergoes medical treatment under the supervision of two doctors (both played with precision by Joshua Denning), the audience is left to wonder, as Diana does, “which is worse, the symptom or the cure?”
The 2009 Broadway production of “Next to Normal” (with music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey) won several Tony awards as well as the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. The show’s rock score is packed with powerful songs, complicated rhythms, and unexpected lyrics.
Despite its heavy-sounding theme, Zach Theatre’s version of “Next to Normal” is a gripping and often very funny ride. The show’s small cast is uniformly sharp. McCall infuses her portrayal of Diana with dry wit. Her voice soars on ballads like “I Miss The Mountains,” where Diana laments that her medications allow her to feel nothing.
As her steadfast but overwhelmed husband Dan, Jamie Goodwin’s solid performance resonates. As Natalie, Diana’s driven, over-achieving teenage daughter, Kelli Schultz is a breath of fresh air, delivering some of the show’s funniest lines and tossing in some refreshing teenage sarcasm, especially in the scenes of her budding romance with stoner kid Henry (Johnny Newcomb).
Poignant, surprising, and at times utterly irreverent, “Next to Normal” pulls back the curtain on a family in crisis. It explores the difficult topic of mental illness with equal amounts of sympathy, levity, heartbreak, and hope. And it makes the audience question what, exactly, it means to be “normal” in the first place.
‘Next to Normal’ continues through March 4 Zach’s Kleberg Stage, 1510 Toomey Rd. $25-$55. 476-0541, www.zachtheatre.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo: Joshua Denning and Meredith McCall. Photo by Kirk Tuck
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December 6, 2011
Review: 'God of Carnage'
When it comes to entertainment, not much beats witnessing a full-blown tantrum from a grown up. Multiply the meltdown by four, and you get Yasmina Reza’s award-winning comedy of manners, “God of Carnage,” which shows us just how funny it can be when parents stop being polite.
The French playwright is well known for her humorous attacks on bourgeois society, and “God of Carnage’s” success has translated well across continents. Extremely popular in Paris and London, the play ran for more than 400 performances on Broadway, winning a Tony for best play of 2009. Here in Austin, “God of Carnage” will run through Jan. 8 as Zach Theatre continues to bring New York’s most popular contemporary plays down to Texas.
While I’m inclined to agree with the New York critical community’s opinion of the play’s rather vapid content, “God of Carnage” is certainly box office gold. Combining middle-class pretension with slapstick humor and the inevitably funny spectacle of bodily fluids, the show is a raucous carnival of shifting allegiances and witty one-liners.
The premise is simple: Two sets of upper-middle-class parents have come together to discuss a fight between their 11-year-old boys. Veronica (Lauren Lane), the micro-managing mother of the injured child, wants an apology from the aggressor. But when she insists that not only should he say he’s sorry, but also that he must mean it, she makes the fatal mistake of trying to parent other people’s children. When her husband, Michael (Thomas Ward), doesn’t come to her aid, the pretenses of polite society begin to fall away. And what happens in comedies when mothers forget their manners? The claws come out.
Though initially the most placating member of the group, the other mother, Annette (Angela Rawna), eventually reaches her breaking point - brought on by her husband, Alan’s (Eugene Lee), intrusive commitment to his career and the help of a healthy dose of alcohol. Over the course of ninety minutes we get to see the worst of all four adults.
Under the direction of Matt Lenz, the cast is energetic and keeps the show moving at a rapid pace. As the more conciliatory half of the couples, Angela Rawna’s and Thomas Ward’s performances stand out. Ward provides the most steadily developed deterioration, and we delight in his ultimate commitment to setting pretenses aside.
Michael Raiford’s lovely set drops us right into the lives of these materialistic (and swiftly unraveling) marriages. The script calls for an impressive bit of stage business, and Zach Scott’s production pulls this off with the technical precision we’ve come to expect from Austin’s leading professional theater.
‘God of Carnage’ continues 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 8. Tickets $25-$65 Zach Theater’s Kleiberg Stage. 1510 Toomey Road. www.zachtheatre.org
Cate Blouke is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
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November 10, 2011
A sneak peek at Zach Theatre's new Topfer Theatre
Leaders of Zach Theatre invited media on Wednesday to tour the progress of its new Topfer Theatre, the 430-venue now under construction.
Slated to open in late September of 2012, the 26,000-square-foot theater is the third venue Zach will manage. The Topfer Theatre joins Zach’s 230-seat Kleberg Stage and the 130-seat Whisenhunt Stage.
Situated on city-owned parkland at the corner of S. Lamar Bvld. and W. Riverside Dr., the Topfer Theatre is designed by Austin’s Andersson Wise Architects.
Some $10 million of 45 percent of the $22 million cost of the building is funded by voter approved municpal bonds. Zach leaders have raised an addition $8.3 million to date for a total of $18.3 million.
Zach broke ground on the project in February.
Graphic: Robert Calzada/American-Statesman.
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November 4, 2011
One night only: 'Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays'
Joining theaters nationwide Monday, Zach Theater stages “Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays,” a collection short plays by a heady roster of playwrights: Jordan Harrison, Jeffrey Hatcher, Moises Kaufman, Joe Keenan, Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod, Jose Rivera, Paul Rudnick and Doug Wright.
All riff on the timely topic — the campaign for marriage equality in the United States.
Participating theaters are presenting these plays in support of marriage equality. Funds from Zach’s presentation will fund GetEQUAL TX.
At Zach, audience members will have access to a live streaming introduction before the play, as well as a post-performance Q-&-A happening at New York’s Minetta Lane Theatre.
“Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays”
7:30 p.m. Monday
ZACH Theatre’s Kleberg Stage, W. Riverside Drive at S. Lamar Blvd.
$20
www.zachtheatre.org
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September 26, 2011
Review: 'Spring Awakening'
In 2007, a musical called “Spring Awakening” took Broadway by storm. Based on an 1892 play by Frank Wedekind, the show combined foot-stomping rock music with troubling stories of German teenagers coming of age in the 1890s, a time when adults exerted almost total control over their lives.
Zach Theatre’s current season-opening production of “Spring Awakening” captures the energy and heart of the hit show that shocked and exhilarated audiences. Directed with skill by Michael Baron, “Spring Awakening” will have you dancing in your seat one moment, then hit you like a punch to the gut the next.
In the show’s opening scene, a teenage Wendla (Sara Burke) asks her mother where babies come from, but her mother is unwilling to tell the truth. This desire to withhold information runs throughout the show, and ends up leading to disastrous consequences.
A burgeoning sexual relationship between Wendla and the intelligent, rebellious Melchior (Johnny Newcomb) anchors the show. Other characters face pressures as well. Failing in school and desperate to please his parents, Moritz (Jordan Barron) contemplates a dark solution. And Ilse (Elizabeth Koepp) and Martha (Tiffany Mann) both struggle to escape the abuse of their fathers.
Surrounded by clueless and unfeeling authority figures (played with zest by Jason Phelps and Melissa Grogan) the teenagers try to figure out their way in the world.
The cast, which includes several students still in high school, is committed and energized. As Wendla, Sara Burke’s clear, lovely voice is a musical highlight. Barron’s Moritz wears his emotions on his sleeves, and his sensitive portrayal is likely to break your heart.
The passionate and expressive music, composed by Duncan Sheik (with lyrics by Steven Sater) brings to life the characters’ inner angst. The musical numbers with the whole cast, including a shouting anthem of rebellion whose title can’t be printed here, are thrilling. Andrea Beckham’s modern dance inflected choreography deepens the experience of the songs.
Full of poetic staging choices, “Spring Awakening” is visually engaging. Set designer Michael Raiford created a gorgeously detailed environment full of warm colors and sharp lines. Jason Amato’s lighting design frequently transforms the set and changes the mood.
“Spring Awakening” is not a light romp. At every turn, the adults in the teenagers’ lives refuse to tell them the truth, refuse to listen to them, refuse to have compassion.
At one point, one of the girls asks, “But how will we know what to do if our parents don’t tell us?” It’s a testament to the play’s original writer, Frank Wedekind, that this question still resonates a hundred years later, in a completely different time and place.
‘Spring Awakening’ 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 13 at Zach Theatre’s Kleberg Stage, S. Lamar Blvd. and Riverside Dr. $35-$55. www.zachtheatre.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
June 27, 2011
Review: Zach Theatre's 'Hairspray'
Bigger is better — that’s the motto of “Hairspray,” the 2002 Broadway musical comedy based on the 1988 John Waters film of the same name. From opening number “Good Morning, Baltimore” through to the concluding scene’s “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” the audience at Zach Theatre’s production is treated to a visually arresting show with vibrant ‘60s costumes by Susan Branch Towne, a set by Michael Raiford so deliciously colorful you’ll just want to pop the whole thing in your mouth, and engaging acting and singing — not to mention Willa Kaye Warren’s wild wig designs. No hairdo can be too exaggerated, and no amount of hairspray is over the top. Whatever it takes, right? Bring together these production elements in the intimate space of Kleberg Stage and you have a special vantage point on a hilarious musical.
Tracy Turnblad (a bubbly Brooke Shapiro) is a heavyset girl who, despite what her even plumper mother tells her (Brian Coughlin in drag), has aspirations to make it big on local TV dance program “The Corny Collins Show.” Not only do Tracy’s dreams come true, but she also nabs the handsome Link Larkin along the way and is successful in “integrating” the show by bringing on African American dancers, much to the consternation of racist producer Velma Von Tussle (Jill Blackwood), whose white-blonde beehive hairdo couldn’t be piled any higher.
Blackwood’s interpretation of the scheming Velma makes for one of the more memorable characters in the production. Her solo song-dance, “Miss Baltimore Crabs,” in which she reflects on her pageant glory days, is perfectly capped off with crab-claw hand gestures and the wistful look of nostalgia on her face; she lets slip of the Corny Collins dancers, “They’re kids. That’s why we need to steer them in the white direction.” Blackwood’s strong singing voice and full embrace of character made for many laugh out loud moments among audience members.
Coughlin, who filled himself out with extensive padding worn underneath a dress and donned heavy makeup and a wig full of rollers to portray Mrs. Turnblad, was also a source of guffaws. In particular, the duet “(You’re) Timeless to Me” between Mr. and Mrs. Turnblad, which alternated between being sweet, raunchy and downright uproarious, was a highlight.
Director Dave Steakley does a lot with the small space of Kleberg Stage. For example, Tracy keenly stares at her TV set on a raised platform to the right of the stage, while the television image of Corny Collins’ dancers plays out on the central space before us. In “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now,” three mother-daughter pairs wheel hair salon chairs around the stage, each in their own spotlight. The second act opens with a jail scene that features “bars-on-wheels,” allowing the actors to configure the cell in different layouts. Raiford’s set design for the interior of a plus-size women’s dress shop is a pink wonderland, while his record shop is realistic.
The over-the-top quality of Zach Theatre’s “Hairspray” envelops you, transporting you to the characters’ world. “I hope I didn’t dent your ‘do,” says Link to Tracy at one point. That’s okay — there’s always, always more hairspray.
“Hairspray” continues through Aug. 28 at Zach Theatre,$20-$62. www.zachtheatre.org
Claire Christine Spera is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
June 13, 2011
Review: 'The Book of Grace'
“Don’t Fence Me In” is a classic cowboy song about freedom. In this song, a fence is something that can trap a person and prevent them from roaming free. But a fence can also be built as protection, as a way to keep people out.
Both kinds of fences are at play in “The Book of Grace,” the newest play from Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks now receiving its Texas premiere at Zach Theatre.
“The Book of Grace” premiered last year at New York’s Public Theater, under the direction of James Macdonald, but Zach Theatre’s version is directed by Parks herself. Parks, whose work is often celebrated for its lively and rhythmic use of language, tweaked the script a bit and reworked the play for this new production.
The opening fugue, in which the three main characters announce who they are, vibrates with energy. Vet (Eugene Lee) is the gruff and bombastic father, a border patrol agent obsessed with security. Vet’s wife Grace (Nadine Mozon) is sunny and hopeful, the one who tries to see the good in life. And Buddy (Shaun Patrick Tubbs) is Vet’s angry and troubled son who hasn’t forgiven his father for “unspeakable” acts in the past.
“The Book of Grace” is set inside the family’s home in West Texas. Projected images of a border fence surround the audience, trapping us in this location, to witness this family’s unraveling drama. Buddy returns home after a long absence and the animosity between himself and his father is palpable, dangerous. In one scene, Vet frisks him to make sure he’s not armed. Grace, Buddy’s stepmother, tries to be the peacemaker.
As the play unfolds, each character has a story they want to tell a larger audience. Vet practices a speech he’ll be giving to the border patrol community as he accepts an award for a major immigrant bust. Grace continues to add to her secret “Book of Grace,” a collection of small moments that provide “evidence of good things.” And Buddy changes his name to “Snake” and starts composing his own manifesto that he hopes to post on the Web.
The actors tackle the drama whole-heartedly. Lee’s Vet is a terrifying yet recognizable human being. Lee, with his deeply resonant voice, gives a powerful performance. Mozon plays Grace as full of exuberant energy yet hauntingly vulnerable underneath. And Tubbs gives a focused, tightly wound performance of a son on the verge of explosion.
Like many of Parks’ plays, this one is steeped in allegory and contains familial drama, violence, and allusions to American history. The play’s final chapter is a harrowing one that hits the audience like a punch to the gut.
“The Book of Grace” itself crosses borders. It moves back and forth between the gritty realism of American domestic drama and a more presentational style evident in the way the characters directly address the audience, the way Grace announces the cleverly named titles of each chapter, and the overt symbolism of borders and fences.
It’s a show that isn’t easy on the audience. You have to pay attention, listen and be willing to follow the characters to some dark places. The reward is a compelling, superbly acted, thought-provoking play and a chance to experience Park’s newest contribution to the contemporary theatre.
“Book of Grace” continues 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through July 10. Zach Theatre’s Whisenhunt Stage, 1510 Toomey Road. Tickets $20-34. www.zachtheatre.org
Photo: Nadine Mozon and Shaun Patrick Tubbs. Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
May 24, 2011
Zach Theatre remounts Molly Ivins play
That didn’t take long.
Zach Theatre will remount “Red, Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins” just five months after the popular one-woman show closed in March.
Barbara Chisholm — who starred as the quick-witted journalist — will once again take the stage and play red-headed writer who sharp writing skewered the political establishment on behalf of the ordinary citizen.
The show opens on Zach’s smaller Whisenhunt Stage on August 4 and runs for four show per week and for nearly all of the autumn season, through Nov. 13.
Read our feature story on the play and its journey to the stage.
Read our review of the production.
Photo by Laura Skelding/American-Statesman.
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May 9, 2011
Donors ante up $500,000 for Zach Theatre's 'Juliet' balcony
Zach Theatre board member Deanna Serra and her husband Jeff have just contributed a $500,000 challenge gratn towards the theater’s $22 million campaign to build the new Topfer Theatre, Zach officials announced today.
Deanna Serra is the president of ABE Charitable Foundation, Inc. and her husband president and CEO of Vida Capital, Inc.
In recognition of the couple’s gift, the slender balcony of the new theater — in architectural parlance a ‘Juliet’ balcony, a reference to ‘Romeo & Juliet’ — will be named “The Serra Family Juliet Balcony.”
The Serra’s said their donation was in honor of their children, Amanda, Benjamin and Eliza. “We feel Zach is a tremendous community resource and asset. It’s one of the rare opportunities to see a public/private partnership work so well and it’s something that people in Austin are all proud of,” said Deanna Serra in a statement.
Nearly $18 million of the $22 million goal has been raised to date with $10.8 million coming from city of Austin bond money. Zach Theatre qualifies for city bond money because it is on city-owned property.
Ground broke on the new Topfer Theatre in February.
Image courtesy Andersson-Wise Architects.
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April 8, 2011
Review: 'August: Osage County
Though dysfunctional families have been fodder for playwrights since the dawn of theater, as Oedipus and Medea demonstrate, it’s the stories of extreme maladjustment that keep us on the edge of our seats.
In his viciously witty tragedy, “August: Osage County,” playing now through May 22 at Zach Theatre, playwright Tracy Letts tracks the decline of the American family touching on practically every imaginable form of dysfunction: emotional abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction, pedophilia, incest, adultery. The only thing missing is incarceration.
After its premier in Chicago in 2007, the hugely popular play transferred to Broadway and ran for nearly 700 performances. Since then, it’s been making the rounds nationwide, and there are plans for a feature film with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts as the female leads.
It’s been compared to such epic familial meltdowns as Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” and the play proves that there’s still room for three-hour sagas on the 21st-century stage. However, Letts makes the case for his chronicle of the Weston family’s self-destruction with a gripping combination of humor and horror.
Unfortunately, Zach’s marketing choices for their production set up the wrong frame for this deeply tragic portrait of a family’s implosion. Calling the play a “scathingly hilarious tragicomedy” creates a misplaced emphasis on the humor. While there are certainly moments of humor throughout the play, when the audience treats it more like Neil Simon than a tragedy, the results are disappointing. The laughter in “August: Osage County” should be nervous instead of knee-slapping, appalled instead of approving.
The sitcom-style first act sets a precedent that’s difficult to shake off under Dave Steakley’s direction. Though early on the cast anticipates the laughs and plays them up, later on, they can’t seem to convey the shift to seriousness. An incredibly powerful scene at the end was ruined by theatergoers more enthralled by smashing ceramics than the emotional devastation laid bare before them. When we should have left in tears, most people finished the evening with a feeling of good cheer, talking of how funny the play was instead of how sad.
The production is full of inconsistencies and contrasts, and on the whole, the cast struggles with rapid transitions between moments of humor and emotional meltdowns.
As the pill-popping matriarch, Violet, Lana Dieterich doesn’t muster sufficient bile for most of the performance. Her responses verge on hammy at times, but her final breakdown is filled with wrenching despair.
Lauren Lane is stunningly powerful as the “favorite” daughter, Barbara, and the skilled actress effectively tackles the shifts between sarcasm and sorrow.
In this family without filters, it’s the quiet ones you want to watch. Jonathan Shultz’s performance as Little Charles stands out for its simplicity and sweet sincerity. Similarly, as Ivy, the overlooked and underloved sister, Irene White’s final outburst leaves us in stunned silence.
In “August: Osage County,” there are certainly moments of hilarity, but they shouldn’t overshadow the heart and soul of the production — that “dissipation is much worse than cataclysm.”
‘August: Osage County’ continues through 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through May 22. Zach Theatre. Tickets: $32-$49. www.zachtheatre.org
Cate Blouke is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
February 18, 2011
Review: Steven Dietz's "Fiction"
Writers keep journals for lots of reasons—to observe the world, to release emotions, to complain about everyday life. We usually assume what’s written in someone’s journal is true. But how do we know it’s not made up?
That’s the question at the heart of Steven Dietz’s fast-paced and witty “Fiction,” now playing at Zach Theatre under the direction of Charles Otte. “Fiction” tells the story of Linda Waterman (Meredith McCall) and her husband Michael (Robert Gomes), both successful writers and sharp-tongued intellectuals.
From their first meeting at a Parisian cafe, where the two debate whether “reductivity” is a word and try to answer the question of what is the greatest rock vocal performance of all time, it’s clear that these two are brought together by their passion for life, literature, and the artfully turned phrase.
Their comfortable life is shaken by the news that Linda has a malignant brain tumor. Linda knows that, as a writer, her journals will be read and examined after her death, so she has one request from her husband—that he let her read his journals before she passes.
Michael nervously agrees. As Linda reads the journals, the play travels back in time to Michael’s stint at the Drake Writer’s Colony, where he meets Abby (Sydney Andrews), a self-possessed woman whom he flirts and spars with. The two then embark on an affair that, according to Michael’s journals, spans several years. But did it really happen or did he invent the story?
Without giving away some of the play’s juicy revelations, let’s just say that it continues to tease out questions about what is true, what is fictional, and what has been hidden in the pages of both Michael’s and Linda’s journals.
The ensemble is tight and focused. McCall plays Linda as bright and ironic, with vulnerable undertones. As Michael, Gomes is delightfully pompous, constantly using big words and reveling in his own ability to pass off lines from other writers as his own.
“Fiction” keeps the audience on its toes. It’s quick, wordy, and full of literary allusions and memorable one-liners. The play’s simple and minimalistic staging allows the audience to keep on questioning what is real and what is imagined.
‘Fiction’ continues 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through April 10 at Zach Theatre’s Whisenhunt Stage, 1510 Toomey Road. $20-$49. www.zachtheatre.org.
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
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