Fresh Kills: Fetal Attraction

When I entered the smaller Theater B at 59E59 Theaters, I didn't expect to see a very realistic pickup truck taking up most of the stage. But since most of the action of Fresh Kills takes place in and around the truck, that's appropriate.

Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder's play Fresh Kills (produced for the first time in New York by Working Man's Clothes, as part of their Lost Works Project) is a gritty and surprising thriller about a married man whose dalliance with a teenage boy brings more trouble than expected, when the kid turns out to be not quite what he seems.

The play begins with Eddie (Robert Funaro) getting a blowjob from his wife Marie (Therese Plummer) in the truck in their Staten Island garage, in an attempt to make their love life more exciting. But soon fellatio turns to bickering, and Eddie goes out drinking with the guys. And by "drinking with the guys", he means "meeting a 16-year-old boy for sex". Eddie has been jerking off to younger boys on the Internet for a while, but now has finally summoned up the guts to actually meet Arnold (Todd Flaherty), and takes him parking at the Freshkills dump (the largest manmade structure in the world). Arnold is desperate for love, which turns Eddie off, and he takes him home.

Then, while hanging at home the next day with his policeman brother-in-law and friend Nick (Jared Culverhouse) and arguing with Marie, Eddie gets a call from Arnold, who's tracked him down. They meet again, and Arnold is more aggressive, eventually fellating Eddie, who then gets caught by the police. That's the end of act I, and the rest of the play develops in interesting ways, though the ending is abrupt, without any real resolution.

The script is full of well-observed and fascinating characters and situations (e.g. a guy who jerks off to underage boys and doesn't consider himself gay or pedophilic), and most of the dialogue is believable, but the jarringly precipitous ending left me unsatisfied and wanting more explanations and closure (and since the show is barely an hour and a half, we had plenty of time). As it is now, the moral boils down to "shit happens".

The performances are all great. Director Isaac Byrne (a co-founder of Working Man's Clothes) gets the most out of his talented cast. Funaro embodies a man caught up in events which are within his control, but he can't seem to let them stay that way. Plummer is excellent as Marie- her obliviousness sometimes played for laughs and sometimes for tragedy, but always grounded in the reality of the scene. Flaherty does a fine job as the increasingly needy and desperate "I will not be ignored!" Arnold. Culverhouse (one of the co-founders of Working Man's Clothes, and a frequent performer with them) gives an appropriately cartoonish performance as the over-the-top Nick.
Kudos to lighting designer Jacob Platt, for keeping everyone well-lit, even while in the truck.

It's a strange play, though definitely worth a look.

Fresh Kills
Working Man's Clothes Productions
59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues)

Tuesdays at 7:30 PM, Wednesdays - Fridays at 8:30 PM; Saturdays at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM; and Sundays at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM. Please note there is no evening performance on Sunday, March 1.

Regular ticket price is $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, contact Ticket Central on 212-279-4200 or online at www.ticketcentral.com.

http://www.workingmansclothes.com
http://www.59e59.org

Photo:Todd Flaherty, Robert Funaro and Therese Plummer

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