BWW Reviews: GROUNDED at Everyman Theatre - Megan Anderson Shines in One Person Play

Remember the lyrics to the "Air Force Song"?

"Off we go into the Wild Blue Yonder

Climbing high into the sky

Here they come zooming to meet our thunder

At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun!

Well, the lyric should be changed from boys to include WOMEN because women not only fly Air Force jets but engage in military combat today.

This is made clear by this wonderful one person play by George Brant which was a huge hit in London where it was named a Top 10 Play by both "The Guardian" and the London Evening Standard". How did this play make it to Everyman? Well, it turns out that the playwright and Director Derek Goldman (Artist Director of the David Performing Arts Center and Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Georgetown University) are long time friends. Goldman suggested the play to Everyman Artistic Director Vincent M. Lancisi who read it and undertandably became "riveted" by it.

Lancisi also knew who would be able to handle this crucial role and he had her in his back pocket...Megan Anderson, a member of the Everyman Resident Theater Company. This is Anderson's 25th show at Everyman and she nails the 70 minute intermission-less performance. Yes, she is on stage the entire night, without a break. (Thankfully there is a plastic bottle of water at the rear of the stage which she utilized on one occasion). Her performance is just plain mesmorizing.

When you enter the theater, there is one person with her back to the audience staring at a television monitor, many television monitors (effective Scenic Design by Luciana Stecconi) envelope the stage. Thanks to Eric Shimelonis' Sound Design, one hears the roar of jet engines. Costume Designer puts Anderson in the Air Force pilot suit. Terrific and realistic Projection Designs are by Jared Mezzocchi. Harold F. Burgess II does the crucial Lighting Design.

But it's Anderson and the wonderful work by Director Goldman who brings this story to life. She is labeled "The Pilot" and she loves to fly planes "into the blue". She gets a rush each time she does it and her explanation is realistic.

But things change quickly. While on leave in the United States from overseas, she meets a man, gets pregnant, has a little girl and her life changes forever. No more ectasy in the sky. Due to her pregancy, she becomes a member of the "Chair Force" in a small trailer near Las Vegas where she works 12 hour shifts and then returns home after fighting a war to be with her husband and child. Not like the war in the Middle East where she bonds with pilots at the local bar after military campaigns. While in the "Chair Force", she manages drones, can see the people who she intends to bomb and can literally see the results of her work, very different from her experience in a jet plane where she released bombs and then departed never to see the results of her work.

The play is certainly timely. Drones are a huge topic of conversation. There is a possibility we can have deliveries from Amazon by drones, local police using drones, etc. It is a tough job she has and the play deals with how it wears on her.

Everyman deserves credit for bringing this play to town. It's also a co-production with the Olney Theatre Center where it will be performed in March 2015.

GROUNDED runs until Nov.16. For tickets call 410-752-2208 or visit www.everymantheatre.org.

Next up at Everyman is Ira Levin classic DEATHTRAP directed by Matt Smith which runs December 10, 2014 to January 11, 2015.

cgshubow@broadwayworld.com

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