Review: GROUNDED Dramatically Exposes 'Eye in the Sky' at The Rep

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater's multi-award winning play Grounded, grounds a pregnant woman fighter pilot while also grounding the audiences in the intimate Stiemke Studio's compelling and complex production. George Brant's contemporary 2013 play demonstrates how drones have transformed both fighter pilots and the "games of global war" because in the 21st century, drones hover over the skies of foreign countries similar to space ships in a violent video game. Either movement controlled by one person in a solitary cubicle or sitting in front of a tiny screen. Instead of B-15 bombers that fly into the blue manned by pilots, men and women, presently sit in front of huge screens sequestered in silence waiting and watching for any movement so drones may attack from across the world in the name of "reducing the loss of human life."

The play's stark scenic design by Scott Davis uses an actual cargo parachute to confine the lone female pilot within her "grey' space where she sits for 12 hours day chasing the putty colored ground on the screens. Then this human pilot drives home to kiss her husband and young daughter in the suburbs of Las Vegas. She lives to go back another day to fight a war in seclusion illustrating both a contemporary and futuristic perspective of technological fighter combat. The young pilot then describes that she becomes the "eye in the sky, " at first elated, and later with disdain. The 1982 Alan Parson Project song the pilot references foresees the future: "i am the eye in the sky/ Looking at you/ I can read your mind/ I am the maker of rules/ Dealing with fools/ I can cheat you blind."

That premise speaks to and undoes the pilot's love of flying, her military rank and ultimately her home life. In this production, that premise exposes the audience to the prophecy being fulfilled in the unnamed pilot's life while her young daughter actually was named--Samantha, an interesting detail Brant gives his audience. Actor Jessie Fisher completely embodies the young woman pilot, also a mother and a wife, who eventually refuses to remove her flight suit when in her home because this reminds her she "was" a real pilot flying actual planes across the blue sky.

Fisher's fearless pilot tackles birth and death in a haunting portrayal of the war between humanity and technology. Her daughter Sam, never seen but named quite often in the script, acquires monumental status as the play proceeds throughout the 85 minute, no intermission production. Her lone and captivating performance rivets the audience's eyes, hearts, and minds until the conclusion unfolds, the screens eventually becoming an additional character in the performance. Fisher grants her audience brash confidence through her professional persona as the actor contrasts these emotions with tender moments of motherhood. This moving portrayal subtly embodies many feminine dilemmas present when pursuing traditionally masculine professions.

Pacing the production to perfection, Director Laura Braza builds the tension to an unexpected climax. Her director's notes strike at the heart of this technological debate similar to the screens surrounding the parachute cubby hole the pilot works in with their omnipresent "eye in the sky." Brant touches on how this disturbs routine life when the pilot takes her daughter to the mall during a week's vacation--where everyone can be and is watched, their minds read, or bodies seen from any discreet "eyes," cameras hiding everywhere: in grocery stores, dressing rooms, gas stations, Targets or Wall Marts.

With the very recent revelation that certain televisions connected to the internet can monitor conversations, thermal body readings and voice recognition, the "eyes' may actually invade private residences. Fine print on cable and internet contracts can reveal any actions or conversations may be relayed/used for other sites, which clients often fail to read or realize. Can these "eyes" also read minds and 'cheat you blind?'

Cell phones and iPads, personal computers. already pinpoint where their users are, monitor which sites they visit, uncover their friends on Facebook or Twitter, and track their purchases in nano seconds. Brant's realistic script multi layers relevant messages and themes where this female pilot regrets losing her blue skies and cotton colored clouds, as perhaps technology users may eventually regret losing a life lived instead of watched---Daily color substituted for small grey screens much tinier then a life lived large among the heavens and earth.

Present and future events take off to dramatic heights after viewing Grounded, provoking the harrowing decisions to be contemplated regarding technology's silent coup over humanity. Fischer provides a tour de force performance regarding what the audience might ignore in regards to those menacing eyes, yet know to be true in their everyday moments. Ubiquitous "eyes in the sky" watch "us" from every angle perhaps destroying living and breathing community, intimacy and privacy. Immerse oneself in this thought provoking and evocative production of a fearless woman, a war pilot, and her ominous story. Brant asks his audiences to then decide what their personal futures hold, in war and peace.

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents GROUNDED at the Stiemke Studio in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through April 2. For special events, performance schedule or to purchase tickets, please call: 414.224.9490 or www.milwaukeerep.com.

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