Review: (VIRGIN) Playing at the Kansas City Fringe Festival

(Virgin), written by Jesse Ray Metcalf, appears at the Just Off Broadway Theatre in Kansas City for the KC Fringe Festival. Directed by Metcalf and J. Will Fritz the play is a dark comedy centering on a chastity belt, sex, drugs, and a catholic schoolgirl.

A young girl is fitted with a chastity belt that her mother deems necessary to help her remain virtuous until she is married. Everything is okay until Mary Sue enters high school and learns she may be one of the last in her class to have been with a man. She discovers a way to have the belt removed and then replaced after she encounters Joey, played by Matt Leonard. Whom do you blame when weeks later you tell your mother you are pregnant and the chastity belt had never been removed? Without giving it away, I can only say one should look to the heavens for the answer.

Kenna Hall stars as Mary Sue, the catholic girl with the leather and chain problem. Hall who has appeared at many of the theaters in Kansas City gives a magnificent performance, as she manipulates her best friend, other classmates and well the whole school and town. The audience feels her innocence as she tries to handle the situation her bible-thumping mother has built for her. The old adage that good girls finish last may be true and Mary Sue is in first place.

Ellen Kirk gives a wonderful performance as the mother of Mary Sue, who guides her life through religion even at the expense of her husband and child. Bonnie Griffin plays Mags, the most popular student in school who does not believe what Mary Sue is saying and Melissa Fennewald plays Lou Lou, Mary Sue's best friend. Both actors give grand performances, Griffin as the arrogant little . . . and Fennewald as the easily influenced friend.

Other members of the cast include Briana Marxen-McCollum, Ai Vy Bui, Alisa Lynn, Lindsey Ray, and Emily O'Dell.

Check the KC Fringe Festival calendar for additional performances of (Virgin). Photo courtesy of Just Off Broadway Theatre.