Review: EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN by Ghostbird Theatre Company

Ghostbird Theatre Company's production of EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN by James Brock brings yet another fun, unique, and artistic piece of theatre to Southwest Florida.

EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN follows various characters in different locations and times, but they are all connected through experiences at railroads and railroad stations. James Brock, the playwright of EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN, also plays the Porter, who introduced and connected parts of the show. I thoroughly enjoyed the amusing spirit he had as well as the glimpses of each person's story that we saw throughout the show, almost as if through his eyes.

One aspect of this show I really enjoyed was that it had a lot of music and dance woven into it. Olivia Curtalo dances during various parts of the show, and both Katelyn Gravel as Dale and Megan Shindler as Ilya perform songs, along with Victor Stephen.

Although Ghostbird Theatre Company uses many different locations in the Fort Myers area for their shows, I really enjoyed the setting chosen for EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN. The Southwest Florida Community Foundation Collaboratory site used to hold an old train depot, and it is also a very unique building downtown, which made it a perfect place for this production to be presented.

The bittersweet stories of these characters all teach us that, as Ghostbird notes in their playbill, "We are all on the same train." (Also, everyone knows a Pierre). The similarities and connections between each of their journeys were very intriguing to see, and I enjoyed the parallels found in each one.

EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN is now sold out, but Ghostbird Theatre Company will also present the 24 Hour Festival on March 3 at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, a race against the clock to create a work based on a prompt given by Barry Cavin. Cash awards of $500 will be given to best artwork, best video, best live performance, and best musical performance. For more information, check out https://www.ghostbirdtheatrecompany.org.

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