'Blackout' Gives a Gray Performance

What does a struggling writer, a North Carolina transplant, a Wall Street consultant, a young man living abroad, a saxophone player and Hell's Kitchen bar owner and a homeless man all have in common?  Nothing really, at least not on any ordinary day.  However, the Cell Theatre Company's production of BLACKOUT, takes the audience to a day in New York City history that was anything but ordinary. As the production's title suggests, BLACKOUT is the story of six strangers whose lives collide together on a street corner in Hell's Kitchen on August 14, 2003 – the day of the blackout.

The basic storylines weaved throughout BLACKOUT reflect a lot of what was reported during the actual event in 2003. Stories of strangers helping strangers and bars giving away the last of their beer before it went bad was newspaper fodder for days afterwards.  For no rhyme or reason, people took an interest in the lives of others simply because they were sharing this one common moment.  As the sunlight went away, so did the hesitancies of millions of city strangers.  It was almost as if the light stripped away the self induced boundaries of age, sex, color, religion, class, etc., to bring everyone down to one common denominator.  In the dark, people looked for ties that bound, instead of looking for ways to individualize and separate.  It is this mindset and moment of "magic" experienced by millions of New Yorkers that BLACKOUT tries to re-create and dissect.  BLACKOUT questions why the absence of light united and why the night of darkness changed everything once the light re-appeared.

BLACKOUT ties together the aforementioned characters who are all immediately engaging.  Some a bit quirky and some a little too cool, they reflect various elements and experiences coming together that typified the day.  Maggie (Kate Goehring) instantly grabs the audience's attention in the first act by playing a nervous and literally "lost" North Carolina native on her first day in New York City.  She bumps into Alex (Teddy Bergman), a gay, twenty something-year-old struggling writer with a day job at Seventeen.  He effortlessly offers his help to calm her down and adjust her to the city, even on this most unusual of days.  From here the audience meets the rest of the cast, including Levi (Darnell Williams), a homeless man who, from a distance, eagerly directs traffic on 53^rd and 9^th in the absence of a street light.

Conversation between the characters showcases a quick back-and-forth dialogue which masterfully delivers wit, both outright and subtle.  The audience quickly learns who the other characters of this motley crew are – Collin (Ryan Patrick Bachand), the cool, free spirited traveler; Lena (Almeria Campbell), the stubborn corporate professional and Fitz (Kevin Mambo), the humble proprietor and musician.  They all unexpectedly get along.  They even let down, to some degree, their personal guards which would normally remain up.  Maggie pours her heart out about how her church kicked her out of the congregation for preaching a guest sermon about notable author James Baldwin and his theories.  Maggie openly admits she has no church now and feels lost, both physically and spiritually.  Somehow, Maggie explains, the only thing that made sense was to come to New York City.  From this point on in the production, various relationships and dynamics between characters begin to form and last until a week after the blackout occurred.  As the days go on, the euphoria of that night begins to fade away.  While some characters yearn to hold onto the magic, others can't wait to put it behind them.  It is this conflict of interpretations that gives the production its story.  Some characters found the way and themselves in the dark, while others muddied what seemed clear in the light.

The concept of BLACKOUT is a wonderful and innovative idea in theory.  Indeed, it was a unique time in New York City's history and the production does a great job of capturing that magic and parlaying it from the stage to the audience.  However, the problem with BLACKOUT is that although its characters had much to say about the pillars of our society like age, sex, race, religion and class, as a collective whole, BLACKOUT seemed to not really say anything at all.  The audience is presented with a handful of delightful characters holding strong, definite opinions who at the end of the story have done nothing to move themselves forward.  BLACKOUT continually hints at and creates through its scenes that it was the in the dark when people found themselves.  And although Maggie eventually denounces God and Alex decides to take a stand and quit his day job to truly pursue a writing career, they are the only characters to who vow to make a change and even that message gets lost.Instead of highlighting the true message BLACKOUT wants to portray, its delivery is hidden behind the dramatics of an impossible, budding love story, literally from left field.  Maggie, who according to the script is supposed to be in her forties and therefore cast too young, seemingly out of nowhere falls in love with Alex, the gay writer in his twenties.  While the feelings between the two characters can be understood, even if it does come as a shock, this new dynamic immediately jumps from sub-plot to main storyline at the same time their epiphanies happen; thus losing any momentum the true meaning of BLACKOUT wanted to deliver.

Although there are some definite bumps along the way in BLACKOUT, it is still a concept to be applauded.  Acting from the entire cast is superb and the script, based purely on what's written instead of what it says, is very good.  If nothing else, BLACKOUT reminds New Yorkers of the day and the feelings that we all shared as a city of millions turned a small community. 

BLACKOUT is playing through January 27th at the Kirk Theatre at Theatre Row on 42^nd Street Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8pm.Matinees are Saturday at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm.Please call 212-279-4200 for tickets.

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