Review: CAT'S-PAW Asks if the Media Plays a Part in Making a Good Cause go Bad

Torn from today's headlines, what do you do when your enemy may be smarter than you? William Mastrosimone's gripping drama CAW'S-PAW is set in a warehouse near the U.S. capital where a terrorist who has wreaked madness and destruction on America is about to use a news reporter to exploit just one more valuable hostage - the world's supply of clean water. Reflecting both current issues of the destruction of clean drinking water in such places as Flint, MI, as well as climate change, this play will get you thinking about how the media tends to promote violence when words fail to gets opposing sides talking to each other, and will get you thinking about what it takes for a good cause go bad.

Presented at Actors Co-op in Hollywood, the production is directed by Stephen Rothman, who returns to Actors Co-op after directing their 2008 production of "The Elephant Man." He is probably best known by West Coast Theatre audiences for his work as founder and artistic leader of the revitalized Pasadena Playhouse. Besides his extensive work on American television, Rothman has had a long association with Deaf West Theatre and is a tenured Full Professor of Theatre at California State University, Los Angeles. The cast of CAT'S-PAW features Ivy Beech, Deborah Marlowe, Sean McHugh, and Vito Viscuso, and Rothman's talent for casting the perfect actors to portray such intense characters so vividly is a tribute to his skill.

The play runs 1 hour 45 minutes with no intermission, a necessary ingredient in experiencing the same cooped up feeling as the characters stuck in their makeshift bunker called Warehouse Earth Now. As it opens, we meet the gun-toting terrorist, Victor (forceful Sean McHugh) who is tending to his EPA captive, David Darling (Vito Viscuso, an expert in cowering). After feeding and clothing him, Victor injects Darling with a truth serum to be sure only the truth is told. Assisting Victor with his plans is Cathy (Ivy Beech), a young woman dressed in fatigues who appears to be totally devoted to him and the "cause." As loud news helicopters swoop overhead, Cathy brings in blindfolded reporter Jessica Lyons (Deborah Marlowe), who has ties to the FBI and plans to interview Darling on his role in the ongoing environmental dispute. She is dressed in casual clothing, apparently abducted on the street in front of her home. Victor offers Jessica more professional attire taken from her closet so she can appear as she usually does on television for the interview. When Victor warns her that he is an expert in explosives and "there is enough anti-life in here to take out Washington, DC," Jessica nervously sets up her video camera to be sure the "truth" will be told when the tape is released to the media. Of course, Victor knows better and his defenses are up along with his temper. Calling himself a low-level Guerilla Freedom Fighter for Clean Water, saying he believes in putting people first and not the polluters, calling them "the Neanderthals causing the beginning of the end of our species." And Victor is determined to get the emotionally overwhelmed Darling to confess how the EPA is responsible for destroying the Earth's resources in pursuit of monetary gains, and apparently ready to use any and all means necessary to accomplish that goal. As Victor and Jessica jostle for the upper hand when it comes to releasing the hostage, both sides expose their strengths and weaknesses while attacking the procedures followed by the opposing side. After all, the media in the United States has now become part of a new narrative in the daily political discourse, often described as presenting "fake news" and giving criminals their "15 minutes of fame" which Victor hopes to use to his advantage.

It's a timely message in that water contamination, domestic terrorism, the EPA, and the media's involvement in reporting on recent environmental catastrophes (the So. Cal Gas leak in Porter Ranch, water crisis in Flint, MI, and the terrorist attack on a nightclub in Orlando, FL, just one year after the horror of the killings in San Bernardino), have set a pattern on believing whatever we see on television news must be the truth. But what if it isn't? If we have become that gullible, how will the American public ever really know who to believe?

Ultimately, the play seems to tell us to "question authority," much the same motto as protestors against the Vietnam War in the late 60s. It has always been, and will always be, something we all need to remember to do as the halcyon days of today's political unrest continue to unfold.

Actors Co-op (Ovation Award-Winner 2014 Best Intimate Theatre Musical for 110 in the Shade) presents the fourth show in its celebratory 25th Silver Anniversary season with the riveting CAT'S-PAW by William Mastrosimone through Sunday, April 30 on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:30pm (with Saturday Matinees scheduled for Saturday, April 1 and April 8 at 2:30pm). There will be no performances during the Easter Holiday weekend, April 14 - 16. Performances take place at the Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre, 1760 N. Gower St. (on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood) in Hollywood and is recommended for mature audiences.

Ticket prices are $30.00, Seniors (60 and over) - $25 and Students - $20.00 - with $15 Student Rush tickets available at the box office only on Friday performances on a first-come, first-serve basis subject to availability. Group rates are available for parties of 6 or more. Tickets may be purchased by phone at (323) 462-8460 or visit www.ActorsCo-op.org.

Photos by Lindsay Schnebly

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