Review: WOMBAT DROOL at Nu Sass Productions And Uncle Funsy Productions

Why do koalas get the fame and glory for cute small mammals when wombats exist? Nu Sass Productions and Uncle Funsy Productions’ WOMBAT DROOL is both a quirky love-letter to the animals that share this earth with us and an extended metaphor on what it means to be human.

K (David S. Kessler) is the since-retired head of the Small Mammals house at the National Zoo. A scatterbrained professor-type, he has a habit of going on animated tangents about his life and time working with animals. K isn’t great at talking with people, but lights up when he gets the chance to talk about tortoises, gibbons, giraffes, and, of course, wombats. The one-man-show starts as a reflective monologue that K gives about his pride in bringing wombats to the National Zoo before flashing back to a motivational lecture that K gave to a town hall of people (the audience) interested in pushing for the wombats’ introduction.

David S. Kessler is a hilariously charismatic performer who commands the room. Kessler, the writer of the production, leverages his years working as a small mammal biologist to convey such intimate reverence for the animals he worked with and carefully unpacks each as if he were talking about an old friend. This role is immaculately crafted for Kessler’s background and loosely draws on his own experiences.

Alongside him is Director Lynn Sharp Spears is a valuable figure in the show. While not gracing the stage during the show, Spears’ integral touch is felt from lights up to curtains. One of the really incredible things about indie shows like WOMBAT DROOL is how creative concepts like a zookeeper’s meditations on life and humanity can come to life. Of course, you need a strong director to make this happen.

WOMBAT DROOL is comedic and light, but not unserious. K’s off-track storytelling habit often tells the audience as much about the humans involved as the animals. Occasionally, his stories reveal more about himself, our reliable but emotionally complex narrator. For example, he reminisces on a time when a Red Panda (the only “true” pandas in K’s book) escaped and had climbed a tree outside its enclosure. K was tasked with climbing up there despite his fear of heights- something his daughter obsessed with climbing doesn’t have. Now, K is confronting a different fear as his daughter prepares for a cross country move.

WOMBAT DROOL was first partly developed for the 2015 Capital Fringe Festival before receiving funding from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Greater Washington Community Foundation, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. All have made a smart call in investing in a story about the curious and often unseen work of someone who (literally and figuratively) brings life to the region. The performance of this show serves as a reminder of the gems that exist in micro, small, and medium-sized DC theatre.

Photo by Aubri O'Connor.

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