Review: DETC's Production of ELECTION DAY is a Winner

Desert Ensemble Theatre's (DETC's) production of Josh Tobiessen's off-Broadway comedy, ELECTION DAY, is a winner, if readers will pardon the pun. The farcical play is structured like a water ride in which everyone floats along lazily until the adrenaline-pumping drop.

In the words of one of my acting instructors, the uniformly superb cast members portray their characters with "honest energy," rather than falling into the trap of planning how to evoke laughs. The result is that all five actors deliver howlingly funny performances, full of mostly impeccable timing and seemingly effortless physical comedy.

ELECTION DAY, which first ran off-Broadway in 2007, involves a Northern California mayoral campaign between the insincere Jerry Clark (Shawn Abramowitz, who plays the smarmy character with wide-eyed innocence) and an unnamed opponent for whom all the characters initially plan to vote. Brenda Zerkowski (Kelley Moody, the morning weather anchor at CBS Local 2 News) is a type A lawyer and campaign volunteer determined to give her all to get her candidate elected, including bullying her boyfriend into voting and passing out flyers. The boyfriend, Adam (Sean Timothy Brown, master of horrified facial expressions), who is moving in that day, is the opposite - laid back, sloppy, and contented to be a clock-punching graphic designer. He is the only one in the play who seems to have any sense. His sister, Cleo (Maricela Sandoval, who perfectly portrays Cleo as a sex maniac who is naive about the ways of the world), aspires to Three Stooges-style eco-terrorism, but only because she wants to go on a real date with the perpetually stoned head of a radical cell, Edmund (the hilarious Brian La Belle), who carries handcuffs to chain himself to trees. They all wind up popping in and out of Brenda's apartment, getting themselves and each other into predictably unpredictable predicaments.

Director Rosemary Mallett deserves kudos for the cast's extraordinary performances, although I disagree with some of her choices, especially in establishing what I consider too slow a pace during the overly talky first part of the show. In addition, having Brenda leave her shoes around the apartment and a cabinet door askew delays the audience's recognition that Brenda is a hyper-organized overachiever. Another choice with which I disagree is leaving ambiguous whether the action takes place a decade ago or now; the program notes place the action today, but the CRT television and boom box imply otherwise. Nonetheless, these are minor quibbles.

Gus Sanchez and Sierra Barrick, interns from Palm Springs High School, did the sound and lighting design, respectively, and deserve a special shout-out - they were able to overcome the ambient sound and lighting problems in the ancient, low-tech Pearl McManus theatre.

A play with screwball antics does not usually deliver a message, but ELECTION DAY contains more than one: How should someone decide for whom to vote, when friends and family members have strong opinions? How should voters protect themselves against falling for a candidate's fake image? How should family members respond when someone announces an intent to commit a crime? These messages resonate even more strongly today, in the era of Russian bots and school shootings.

ELECTION DAY is, in my opinion, a must-see unless someone objects to the f-word. More importantly, there is a sequence about someone's losing a finger, although the event is understated. Still, the easily sickened probably shouldn't attend ELECTION DAY. If the play had a rating, I would call it an "R," for violence, language, and sex.

The rest of the play's crew consists of Eve Fromberg Edelstein (assistant director), Sierra Johnson (stage manager), Cici Orosco (house manager), Cameron Keys (prop master), Glen Shepherd (set design). Set construction: Glen Shepherd, Robert Hernandez, Dan Eckstroma. Nick Wass (additional crew).

Performances take place at the Pearl McManus Theatre, in the Palm Springs Woman's Club, 314 S. Cahuilla Road, (two blocks south of Palm Canyon Blvd.), in Palm Springs, California.

ELECTION DAY will run through February 25, 2018, on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., and on Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 each ($21.69 including service fee), plus tax. Call 760-565-2476 for tickets or more information, or consult the web site, www.detctheatre.org.

The rest of DETC's 2017-18 season consists of:

THE THESPIAN RADIO HOUR (March 9-11 & 16-18)

Tony Padilla, DETC's in-house, award-winning playwright delivers his latest comedy. In 1940s, the production team and cast of a Chicago radio soap opera go to any lengths to procure a new sponsorship from The Heavenly Body Brassiere Company.

THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE (April 13-15 & 20-22, 2018)

Charles Busch's play about a middle-aged New York City doctor's wife, whose life consists of concerts, theater-going, and museums. Plunged into a mid-life crisis of Medea-like proportions, she's shaken out of her lethargy by the reappearance of a mysterious childhood friend.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jerome Elliott

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