Review: SNOWGLOBED at West of Lenin is Bad Kitsch

Full disclosure: I had to emotionally prepare myself for "SnowGlobed" because, admittedly, I find most holiday pieces saccharine and disingenuous. Although collectively "SnowGlobed"'s five short plays were irreverent and dark-which resonates with me much more, being the Grinch that I am-unfortunately, most of the plays did not impact me in a satisfying way.

For the past five years, writers and artists have been invited to create a holiday-inspired piece for "SnowGlobed" to curate refreshing new tales in this wintery time of tradition. Directed by Emily Penick, these five pieces accomplish what was advertised in that range of perspectives were represented on stage, and all quite cynically. All of the characters seemed like gross caricatures of themselves, which seemed to be the driving force of all of the plotlines, but there could have been a lot more effort into exaggerating the grotesqueness and kitsch.

K. Brian Neel's concept comedy ended up being a long list of puns in "A Dissolution of Holiday Assents." We observe a divorcing couple split up their Christmas assents, starting with their material assets and devolving into more conceptual assets such as "good cheer" and "the smell of pine." As someone who does not need to be convinced that Christmas can be tremendously superficial, I found this short play to be quite clawing and redundant, rather than satirical. A snipped of this play could make a fun scene in a bigger story, but this stretched-out joke does not produce much depth.

Benjamin Benne's "[Untitled]" had its high moments-the two overlapping monologues between a spritely, young boy and the evergreen tree he cuts down was a bittersweet story. It was one of the few narratives that had a resolution, but it too has a dark ending. It was nice to have the voice of the Christmas tree represented, but I really was not sure if the play wanted me to get in the holiday spirit or not.

Now, the most controversial play: "White Kwanzaa: An Appropriation Comedy." I have never been so psychically disturbed by a play in my entire career as a theatre critic . In it, a white couple and their white neighbor friends have a Kwanzaa party, where they make "traditional Kwanzaa food" like "cornbread, friend chicken, and collard greens," don "tribal African" costumes, and play the Kwanzaa mix CD they bought at a coffee shop which includes Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac. The show was intentionally trying to be racist from the perspective of a black playwright. Stepping back to examine the script, like "A Dissolution of Holiday Assets", was concept-based, and a laundry list of ridiculous things, or, in this case, abhorrently racist things. Exposing racist moments is fine. But when does the examining of one side of racism become offensive as it stereotypes the supposed offenders? Yes, what happens in "White Kwanzaa: An Appropriation Comedy" seems eerily feasible in modern white America-heck, most Americans behave the way these characters do every Cinco de Mayo. Maybe I did not get the point or maybe it is my own white guilt talking, but I was very grossed out by the behavior of the fictional white people portrayed in the show as well as the lack of resolution. It felt like it was being racist for shock factor, rather than storytelling.

For a special "SnowGlobed" guest performance curated by Hattie Andres, a young man addresses the alleged illicit material in the story of the Nutcracker, making obvious double-entendres. He then passes out in a drunken frenzy where we get a sneak peak at his fever-dream. I quite enjoyed this part of "SnowGlobed" because of its sweet silliness that the rest of the production lacked. Kudos to the special guests for the impressive choreography, all while doing it with a smile.

"Rats & Roaches" by Kelleen Conway Blanchard really hit the mark on exaggerated grotesqueness-the costumes and puppeteering made this black comedy especially funny. The accents made the dialogue a bit difficult to understand, but this short play was the most enjoyably strange because every absurd aspect was embraced and celebrated.

There were definitely funny concepts that, if refined, could make some hysterical short plays; take, for example, the final play "Where He Goes, Nobody Knows..." by Pilar O'Connell. In this campy horroshow, the white elite discuss white elitist things while sipping maroon martinis delivered to them by a decrepit butler on Christmas eve. This is a funny idea, but I found the acting to be a bit subdued for what the story was. In my opinion, there were a lot of missed comedic opportunities for the actors to go over the top with camp and physical comedy considering how absurd and exaggerated the script was.

Unless the goal of the show was to demonstrate how Christmas joy is a lie, I am not entirely sure what to extract from this show as a whole.

I give "SnowGlobed" 1.5/5 stars.

"SnowGlobed" plays at West of Lenin through December 19th, 2015. For tickets and information, visit www.playinginprogress.com.

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