Pacific Playwrights Festival Looks to Art and Eccentricity

South Coast Repertory, the constantly intriguing company just down the road in Costa Mesa, has once again presented a sprinkling of inventive theatre, in both staged and merely reading formats, as part of its 11th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival.  Known for launching many a shows to further runs beyond the Orange County locale, the work of Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson, this season, proves somewhat spotty when it comes to the two fully-staged productions presented during the Festival.

Playwright Kate Robin's What They Have turned out to be the most satisfying offering this go around, as the former writer of HBO's dark family dramedy "Six Feet Under" is extremely capable of delivering edgy dialogue at a rapid-fire pace.  In keeping with her television background, Robin includes a handsome amount of pop culture zingers, from a long-winded rant on the profound effect of the trashy reality series "Big Brother" to the inclusion of Oprah's favorite "The Secret."  The latter nearly becomes a pivotal aspect to the more than bleak tale of two couples struggling with class and status leaving each nearly broken by play's end.

Matt and Suzanne, a middle-class slightly bohemian married pair find themselves struggling with the value of art, their chosen professions, and the yearning for more, namely a child.   While battling amongst each other after Suzanne, played with a deranged lovability by Nancy Bell, embraces "The Secret" and tries convincing her overly cynical husband, a feisty Kevin Rahm, that if he only believes they can have a child then somehow the obviously cruel gods of fate will intervene and make it so.

Everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Jesus get railed against during Matt's continued outbursts towards successful figures, as he claims they are not in actuality nice people rather merely consumed by an agenda.  While much of his rants prove merely glorified filler, they do entertain when spewed out by Rahm. 

On the other end of life's spectrum sits Jonas and Connie, Hollywood producers that on the surface are rolling in happiness, thanks to a hefty bank account and self-appointed level of class.  As can be expected, from both the play's title and simple assumption, each couple wants what the other has, or at least will come to that conclusion before the curtain drops. 

Matt Letscher's Jonas expounds on the trivial aspects of life as if he were an op-ed columnist, full of ideas that more often than not incite angered reaction more than thoughtful conversation, as he is the one finding life's meaning in reality television.  As his pregnant wife, Marin Hinkle gets the laughs and tears, as Connie makes repeated attempts to finish her husband's sentences, with no success, setting the tone for an upcoming battle of wants.

What They Have, in keeping with its love of pop culture, comes off as a grown up version of the late '90s teen drama "Dawson's Creek," a show built around overly heavy talking characters that spend half their lives describing in depth how they perceive their lives.  Thankfully, What They Have allows for plenty more than the wild rants of a few spoiled artists, be they painters, writers or movie producers, the last of which gets its fair share of lampooning in Robin's book.  In fact, the most intriguing aspect of this play is its stance on art and whether merely soliciting a work, as in Jonas' role as a producer, can be considered a true creative endeavor next to laboring over a painting, as Suzanne attempts.

Richard Greenberg offered the other fully staged production at this year's festival in The Injured Party, an oddball comedy that never really gets off the ground.  The playwright is no stranger to South Coast Rep, having world premiered seven other productions at the venerable organization, including Three Days of Rain, which New York audiences might remember as the play unfortunately taken on by Julia Roberts in its 2006 Broadway revival.

Whereas a handful of his previous works like Take Me Out showcased a masterful handle on the English language, The Injured Party comes off as a guest crashing the party rather than a welcome participant.  Try as it might to come off as a Wood Allen screwball New York comedy, Greenberg's latest theatrical outing proves highly neurotic without the comedic sincerity of an Allen script.

A dysfunctional old-money New York flibbertigibbet, Seth, finds himself sorely bitter over the recent Central Park art installation "The Gates," and throughout the evening decides everyone around him should be equally as miserable, including the audience, at times.  His master plan to do away with Maxene, the family matriarch, by an unbelievable method of emotionally shunning to death, in order to secure her fortunes, fails to come off as funny, no matter how hard Greenberg force feeds the premise.  And what the two polar opposite through lines of the The Injured Party have to do with one another remains a befuddled mystery.

Were it not for the dynamic acting by Reg Rogers, Seth might have no appeal whatsoever, and as a play, relying on the chops of an actor to save the show is not a desirable trait.  Marin Ireland, as Seth's ditzy best friend Becca, is often the only respite, providing light-hearted laughs when necessary.

The Injured Party has a plot too convoluted to fully address, sadly abandoning the most interesting theme it possesses, that of art's distinctive qualities.  When Seth begins his rant on "The Gates," as seen opposite What They Have, it becomes apparent that there was much potential to dig deep into the well of artistic validity, and instead Greenberg veers more towards the absurd eccentricities of uninteresting characters rather than furthering that conversation.

For more information on South Coast Repertory, located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, visit www.scr.org or call 714-708-5555.  And for more from James Sims visit www.simsscoop.com.

Photos by Henry DiRocco/SCR.  (1) What They Have's Nancy Bell and Kevin Rahm (2) What They Have's Matt Letscher and Marin Hinkle (3) The Injured Party's Reg Rogers and Cynthia Harris.

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