Review: BWW REVIEWS: SHERIDAN at MadLab Theater

According to a 2006 study by the Compassionate Friends Organization, 16 percent of all marriages end in divorce after the death of a child. In the play SHERIDAN, couple Lucy and Ethan are hanging onto the frayed threads of their relationship in the wake of the birth of their stillborn child.

The Christian Missonak-penned play, which made its world premiere at the MadLab Theater (227 N. Third Street in downtown Columbus), may not be the feel-good hit of the fall. It's uncomfortable to watch at times and left its audience shifting in their seats, but its poignant message strikes a chord with many of its viewers.

Missonak, a Chicago writer and actor, created a script that is mainly about how we cope with grief, but hits a wide variety of subjects including abortion, the MeToo movement, and social media. As a performer at Chicago's The Second City, he also includes wry bits of humor that carry the audience through an exceedingly dark voyage. Many left the theater feeling like they didn't see a play; they experienced something real.

Rachel Cagle (Lucy) and Ian George (Ethan) sparkle as the main focus of the story. However, Erik Bobbitt (Mark), Amanda Khosraviani (Piper), Stephen Woosley (Justin), and Reagan Hyer (waitress) also deliver solid performances in supporting roles.

Normally, when one writes about a couple in a review, he or she writes they "had chemistry." Cagle and George's chemistry is like sulfuric acid, destroying the container of their relationship and spilling out into the audience.

Cagle's acerbic Lucy is filled with a mixture of stinging hurt and tongue-lashing dark humor while George's Ethan nervously tries to keep an eggshell of a relationship from shattering. At one point during the show, Lucy expresses her anger by hurling a laptop computer at Ethan. In the hands of a lesser actress, this could have been over the top. In this James Blackmon directed version, the audience gasped.

Blackmon's touches bring life to the comedic aspects of the Missonak script. A scene or two later, Ethan enters to find Lucy using his computer.

"I see you're using my laptop," Ethan said.

"Yes, mine doesn't seem to be working at the moment," Lucy deadpanned.

Bobbitt takes on the role of Mark, Ethan's party-hardy older brother, who is in town to celebrate his birthday as well as check on his younger sibling. His light brushstrokes on his character complete the picture. For example, while Ethan is staring blankly straight ahead telling the story of his child's still birth, Mark takes a bite out of a dry Christmas cookie, spits it out into a napkin, and buries it in Ethan's couch.

Khosraviani brings life to her character Piper, an actress friend of Lucy's who struggles to find the right words to say to her. Piper, who is crucial to advancing the plot in the later stages of the play, flinches when her friend tries to make light of her tragedy.

Woosley and Hyer make brief but memorable appearances in the play as a sleazy play director and a Tiki bar waitress respectively.

While SHERIDAN may have started as a play that is as dark and gloomy as a December day in Chicago, it closes with rays of hope cracking through the dark clouds. That's a message all of us need to experience.

SHERIDAN is entering its final two weeks with 8 p.m. showings on Aug. 20-21 and 27-28 at the MadLab Theater (227 N. Third Street in downtown Columbus). See madlab.net for more information.

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