Review: OUR HOUSE at Hole In The Wall Theater

Saturday, July 14, was my first time seeing a play at the Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain, CT. This 2009 show called OUR HOUSE is written by Theresa Rebeck, and directed by Ryan Wantroba.

I give a lot of credit to this talented cast for bringing their "A" game to this show, even seeing that they were performing before an audience of ten. The stage chemistry between the cast is very tight with excellent reactions to each other. They all have a great stage presence and exude positive energy. The quality of acting they bring deserves to be seen by a much larger audience. My hope is that when word gets out about what a great cast this show has, the theater will be filled to capacity, especially on this coming Friday, July 20, which is a pay what you can night, at this theater, making the show available for all people, as part of the theater's mission.

All three parts of the set are always present, but effective use of lighting draws the audience's attention to the desired locations, whether they are in the apartment (stage right), backstage in the television studio (back of stage left), or live in the newsroom of the television studio (front of stage left). The theater is designed in such a manner that some of the audience sits in a typical house area in front of the stage, but the rest of the audience sits even with the stage, (from a front to back perspective), facing the stage, on house right (stage left), an uncommon set-up.

The story starts with Wes (Michael Serignese) interacting with Jennifer (Suomia Dode). Wes is in charge of a television station, while Jennifer is both his star morning news anchor and his mistress. After struggling with ratings, Wes decides that he wants Jennifer to host a "reality" television show, even though another worker at the station named Stu (William Moro) believes that Jennifer would lose credibility as a news anchor if she became associated with a reality show.

Elsewhere, an apartment is shared by four roommates, two of whom are bitterly feuding. Alice (Dina Addorisio) does not like the way that Merv (Victor Tellez) constantly watches television, eats her food, and fails to pay his share of the rent. The other two roommates Grigsby (Shawna Pelletier) and Vince (Alan Burkholder) try to be more level-headed peacemakers between the two. The dynamics between the four is highlighted by a discussion about a grill they purchased, a conversation that was the most naturally realistic and believable exchange in the play, well delivered by all four of the cast members who were playing roommates.

The Bible, says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that, "the love of money is the root of all evil," in Mark 12:31 to, "Love your neighbor as yourself," and in Ephesians 2:2 refers to the devil as the "prince of the power of the air." The character of Wes, with his obsession for money has failed to care about the well-being of the people he is broadcasting to, and wants to use the airwaves to gain more money at the expense of those people's minds. One can glean from this connection that Wes is representative of many in the television industry whose love for money has led them to cooperate with the devil in deliberately marketing evil to viewers, particularly targeting children, teens, the spiritually weak, the morally weak, and the intellectually weak. News and "reality" television are the two primary television genres targeted in this show.

A relatable moment occurs early on when Jennifer misspeaks during a live newscast. Her frustration and wish that she could take it back is something we all have experienced in speaking before, coupled with the hope that our words were heard by a minimal amount of people. Suomia Dode's delivery of this frustration is spot-on.

The story gets more intense and more dramatic as it goes on, and we experience the cohesion of the two separate storylines that were initially only connected by Merv watching Jennifer on television.

Many profanity laden heated verbal exchanges are included in this show, as well as a (fully clothed, yet not the least bit subtle) adulterous sex scene, so even though some adults may be entertained by that type of crudeness, this is not an appropriate show for children. While some people classify this show as comedy, I would say that dark drama would be a more accurate description of the genre.

OUR HOUSE is scheduled to continue to run at the Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain, CT, on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM through August 4, 2018, with a matinee performance scheduled for Sunday, July 22, at 2:00 PM. For tickets, please go to https://hitw.org/.

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