Review: DEAR CHUCK at Winslow Homer Center For The Arts

On Sunday, March 5th, I saw DEAR CHUCK, by Jonathan Dorf at the Winslow Homer Center for the Arts. It was quite an evening! With no admission charge, and it being late on a Sunday night, the audience was surprisingly lively. The cast surely fed off of that.

Before the show, I was able to interview some of the cast members as they were getting ready.

"DEAR CHUCK is a true coming-of-age story. It is tastefully comedic and respectful where it needs to be," said Amy Ollove , a senior performer who acts as the props coordinator and assistant costume designer. "Comedy is a strong suit of mine, so there's some characters I get to play that have both aspects of comedy and content."

Ollove was featured in a scene that truly spoke to me. She played a babysitter who cannot seem soothe a crying baby. However, when she offers the infant a bottle, the infant tells her flatly that she doesn't want a bottle. Slowly through the scene, the babysitter becomes aware that she's talking to things that cannot talk (which include a pencil, a baby, and Elizabeth Hobbs dressed as a rabbit.), and making peace with who she is. It spoke lightly to mental illness and how real it can be to teenagers.

Next, I met with Gabby Leon, a senior whose additional roles included costuming director and designer.

"I was roped into this last year," joked Leon. "[Marissa Brown] said that I had excellent style and exquisite taste."

When I asked Leon who she played for the show, she replied with, "I play lots of versions of myself. Amidst all the teenage angst, I project some of my own personal struggle onto these characters. DEAR CHUCK is a glimpse into something very real, and has generated some difficult feelings for everyone involved."

I met with the assistant to the director, Elizabeth Hobbs. She is a senior at Scarborough High School. I asked her to describe DEAR CHUCK in three words.

"It's. A. Metaphor," said Hobbs without skipping a beat.

Hobbs gave an extremely moving monologue in a scene that takes place during the funeral of a suicide victim. She begins by saying how much it means when her mother looks at her, but slowly begins to beg for support from her mother. While, I felt it was partially unclear on the topic of who it is that died, the message was still there.

I asked Hobbs what she hoped everyone would take away after seeing the piece. She replied with, "Everyone has a Chuck. You may not know where he is, but you will find him. It may happen due to good circumstances, but you may find Chuck just as easily amidst disaster."

"The highlight of this show for me," said Hobbs, "is my monologue in the funeral scene. In a strange way, it gives me hope for a better future."

Moments before the places call was given, I spoke with juniors Reagan Oliver and Carly Randall. Together, between fits of jokes and laughter, they put DEAR CHUCK into three words. They were "funny, encapsulating, and real."

Oliver admitted to "not liking the writing at first," but after unpacking the script and bringing it to life on stage, "it started to mean something more for me."

Oliver was featured in a truly impactful scene about the overwhelming tsunami that is the social media universe. Oliver's character was forced to try and cross the massive sea of obnoxious social media presences, before being forced to scream for mercy. However, there was a boy, played by Phineas Nutting, who was there to hear her when she needed to be saved before she drowned.

The show was well done for a cast of this size. Personally, I felt that the show could've gone a different direction with a smaller cast, but I also felt that the different faces allowed for a deeper, more personal meaning in every scene.

I was not a fan of all transitions in the show. I found myself being distracted when the lights went partially down and the only thing to see was the stagehands changing the set to the musical stylings of Eric Carmen. This is unavoidable in a high school setting, but I do believe that something more could've been done with the 'in-between time."

From scene to scene, the lighting changed to match the cast members' pops of colors. This was surprisingly effective to the audience. The idea was born from the collaborative efforts of seniors Gabby Leon and Amy Ollove. The colors of the set pieces were muted and that made the colors of the costumes pop even more. To me, it showed how without a Chuck, the cast would keep changing and conforming to what the world (the lights) demanded until they found him. I applaud the creative forces behind this show.

As much I enjoy character acting, I believe that in certain places it could've been dialed back. The brilliance of the script lies with it's simplicity, and in different scenes, the sheer volume and brazenness of some of the characters distracted from the message of the scene.

The cast was surprisingly effective in basing their performances around the reactions of the audience. Even among the younger and less experienced cast members, there was sheer brilliance. Cora Stewart gave a monologue on finding a seat for a goofy Chuck at your lunch table that simply enthralled the audience. Phineas Nutting had many walk-on roles and one-liners that were quite literally show stoppers in and of themselves. He is a charismatic actor that should not be overlooked.

Overall, I'd say the actress that I appreciated most was Elizabeth Hobbs. She delivered many different characters that were vastly different, but all carrying the same soul. The graduating senior moved me to tears with her sobering deliverance of a monologue about growing up and having to be independent. I was sitting next to Hobbs' mother, and I cannot imagine the pride that she must feel.

DEAR CHUCK was majorly made a success by the life that each cast member breathed into it. Even amidst some choices that didn't speak to me, the message of the show was delivered very clearly. I left feeling very hopeful, and encouraged to go and seek out everyone's old friend, Chuck. I cannot wait to see how well the performers at Scarborough High School do at the Maine Drama Festival on March 10th and 11th.

The Maine Drama Festival will take place at Morse High School on March 10th and 11th.

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