Boston Review: SpeakEasy's "Moonlight Room" Needs CPR

"The Moonlight Room"

Written by Tristine Skyler, Directed by Paul Melone, Set Design by Jenna McFarland, Lighting Design by Seth Reiser, Costume Design by Jenna Rossi-Camus

Cast in order of appearance:

Sal, Tracee Chimo

Josh, Ian Michaels

Mrs. Kelley, Cheryl McMahon

Mr. Wells, David Jackson

Adam, David Krinitt

Performances: Now through February 19

Box Office: 617-933-8600 or www.BostonTheatreScene.com

When 18-year-old Josh says to his girlfriend Sal that the emergency department in which they are waiting is nothing like television's "ER," he's supposed to be making the point that truth is grittier than fiction. Unfortunately, what he is inadvertently telling the audience of this SpeakEasy Stage production of "The Moonlight Room" is that Tristine Skyler's teen drama about disenfranchisement and drug overdose lacks even an ounce of the shock that Dr. Carter and company create every week in our living rooms.

"The Moonlight Room" has been touted as a gripping play with realistic dialog that examines with unflinching honesty the tough issues of teen violence, family dysfunction, and the cynicism of disillusioned youth. In fact, this staged version of what reads like an After School Special is nothing more than a trite rehash of subject matter that has fueled many episodes of "Law and Order," "CSI," and even "48 Hours." For all its aspirations, "The Moonlight Room" is as lifeless as a crash test dummy.

The story centers on Josh and Sal, smart but troubled kids who have brought their friend Lightfield to the Pediatric Emergency Department of a New York City hospital because he has overdosed on the street drug Special K. While there they encounter Sal's mother Mrs. Kelley, Lightfield's father Mr. Wells, and Josh's step-brother Adam, who also happens to be one of the hospital's Pediatric Emergency physicians. As they all wait for word on Lightfield's condition, details of the night's events unfold and conflicts between adults and teens arise.

Unfortunately, much of the time the cast spends waiting, the audience is waiting, too – for sparks to fly and dialog to crackle. Instead of exploding with the release of escalating fears and tensions, scenes fizzle under the weight of unnatural language and stilted direction. All three adults are drawn as obtuse stereotypes who spew either self-indulgent psychobabble or contrived analytical rhetoric. To make matters worse, the performances of Cheryl McMahon, David Jackson, and David Krinitt as the parents and doctor are mechanical and one-dimensional. They all execute their blocking as if counting off steps and deliver their lines with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

The teens fare somewhat better, especially Josh as played by newcomer Ian Michaels. This fine young actor gives the only sincere performance of the evening, letting his character's nervousness and insecurities show naturally through his mock bravado. Michaels is alternately teasing, sensitive and protective with Tracee Chimo's Sal, then painfully exposed and vulnerable when on the phone alone with his mother. There is a slightly distorted yet oddly logical wisdom in this 18-year-old drug dealer's philosophical ramblings. Through Michaels' truthful portrayal, we see a social misfit whose brilliance and undeniable talents have never been appreciated by the mainstream.

The best scenes in "The Moonlight Room" are unquestionably the ones between Josh and Sal. When they are together, both Michaels and Chimo move and speak as naturally as any couple who have shared their deepest secrets with each other. However, when Chimo is either alone on stage or interacting with the adults, she is less convincing. At times, her attempts to act younger than she really is become overblown and very distracting. Her constant fidgeting with her purse, picking at her fingers, turning inward of her toes, and hooking of her thumbs in her back pants pockets make her seem more like a pre-teen Valley Girl than a toughened New York adult child of a chronically depressed and housebound mother.

In its central depiction of teens on the fringe, "The Moonlight Room" manages to put its finger squarely on the pulse. When it moves from pediatrics to adult internal medicine, sadly the play goes flat line.

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