Review: THE RESERVOIR Resonates with Audiences at DCPA Theatre Company

The path toward addiction is often paved by the negative, if not traumatic, experiences that life throws at us. The proverbial bricks that fly at our faces with breakneck speed are used in a manner that is mostly haphazard, lacking method and precision. It doesn't take a scientist to understand the connection between addiction and trauma, whether it be physical or emotional, but that doesn't make coming to terms with your own baggage any easier. Such is the case for a college-aged queer kid in the latest production coming out of DCPA's Theatre Company, The Reservoir. 

In its World Premiere presentation, The Reservoir by Denver's own playwright Jake Brasch tells the story of Josh who has come home to Colorado from NYC to take a break from school and come to terms with his addiction to alcohol. At this point in the story, it is a given circumstance that his mother feels she has done all she can to support him and is on the verge of a full cut-off. When he can no longer depend on his mother's compassion, he turns to his four grandparents for guidance. In the process, he learns of his own grandparents' debilitating diseases, most notably Alzheimer's disease. In the face of grief, his struggle with addiction gets worse before it gets better. 



The Reservoir has the makings of an amazing play, though not quite fully fleshed out. It feels very narrative-driven with roughly half the show being delivered in monologue form, our lead actor regularly breaking the fourth wall and speaking to the audience. In its current form, it reads more like a novel and seems more like a collegiate senior capstone project. That being said, this is my favorite type of show to review because the foundation of my criticisms have to do with the unexplored rather than the presentation of the piece. Truly, I developed an affinity for the play as it progressed, but one of the main areas of the unexplored revolves around Josh's father, who is not only absent from the character list but from the script entirely. In a show with all four grandparents and a mother, it rather glaringly makes one ask the question of, "Where is the dad?" or maybe even more pointedly, "Why is he not involved?" There's perhaps an opportunity to draw a connection to his absence, maybe even his death if that is the direction the story goes, to Josh's addiction.

Directed by Shelley Butler, the creative elements don't do much to elevate the production. A mostly stagnant set design by Takeshi Kata with lighting by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew left me wanting more. There are a few moving set pieces but otherwise the design work doesn't do enough to accentuate the story. There are continuous archetypes of books, knowledge, and memory throughout the play. To that extent, it feels like more could have been done to create a stationary set around those ideas. Generally speaking, I have come to expect more creativity from DCPA's locally produced work. 

As with most shows, a play is nothing without its players. The cast, as a single unit, is undeniably cohesive. It's easy to see that everyone is on the same page with regard to the passion for the story. I would say the "least likable" among them is Mark Kincaid as one of the grand-patriarchal figures, Hank, which I found to be the design of his character. If anything, I think I found him to be too young for the role given the character's arc and ending, but his ability to settle into a disgruntled grandfather felt reminiscent of my own recently departed grandpa. Peter Van Wagner as the other grandfather, Shrimpy, is in some ways the antithesis of Hank, but not so different that it separates them generationally. Van Wagner is lovable and relatable in his portrayal, often serving as a comic relief for the larger, more serious, themes in the play. 

Rodney Lizcano plays a small handful of characters, most notably as Hugo, Josh's manager at the book shop owned by his mother - I think. Lizcano does well at differentiating between their characters, but I would encourage them to go further in making the side characters more outrageous, for a lack of a better word. The doctor/scientist character has a lot of opportunity for Lizcano to play up the campiness. As the mainstay, Hugo, Lizcano is delightful as the unexpected lifeline for Josh. Vanessa Lock also wears multiple hats, but none so much as Patricia, Josh's mother. Lock heartbreakingly embodies the mother of an addict who bears the weight of not just the struggles of her son and their relationship, but her own grief and loss.

Joyce Cohen as Josh's appointed "favorite" grandparent, Irene, gives a masterclass performance in presenting one character at various timely moments in her life. As the main grandparent struggling with Alzheimer's disease, we see her at her most cognizant and at her most debilitated. With Cohen  in the role, it is easy to understand why Irene became the favorite. Her kindness is clearly the center of her interpretation. Lori Wilner, much like Van Wagner, serves as a slight antithesis to Cohen's Irene as the other grandmother, Bev - who is my personal favorite. Wilner's Bev is the "no nonsense; pick yourself up by your bootstraps" grandmother and as the play progresses, Josh learns that perhaps he has the most in common with her than anyone else. Wilner is funny, harsh, and grounded in her portrayal, offering tough love to Phillip Schneider's Josh in a way only a grandmother can. 

Phillip Schneider appears as our leading man, Josh, in his equity theatre debut. Schneider puts it all out there, as they say, but being surrounded by veteran performers showcases a performer early on in their career. Schneider is fresh, as it were, and there are nuggets of a breakthrough performance, but I never got the feeling that he fully understood his character's actions. Still, though, Schneider's career in professional theatre is only just beginning and sure to be long lasting.

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