BWW Reviews: Source Festival Finds Love in (A LOVE STORY)

"Can you fall in love if you don't know what love is?"

That question is the central theme in the new play, (a love story), playing as part of the Source Festival. Playwright Kelly Lusk has woven an intricate look at the lives of three couples, who seemingly are unrelated. The impetus of which is the question of "do you know what love is?" You have the popular high school girl in love with the emo-loner, two gay teenagers awakening their feelings, and an older couple who meet and fall in love through on-line anonymity.

Lusk effectively weaves the three stories together with the help of a white clad Greek chorus of sorts who act as narrator and commentator, as well as botany. He uses the imagery of plants (played by the chorus) as a sort of internal monologue for Richard, the emo-loner. The use of the life and death of plants in effect adds a fourth "love story" to the trio and beautifully comments on true love. In fact the relationship between Richard and his plants seem to be the most real of the stories. Another highlight of his script is the use of a dream sequence where we see all of the characters simultaneously having dreams / nightmares and it is an extremely powerful way to show internal monologues in a non-linear way.

The cast of 9 is expertly directed by Jess Jung. Jung uses the "theater in the round" space extremely well and gets the actors to communicate with each other and the audience through a beautiful choreographed piece and expert vocal nuances. Some of the highlights of her choices are the aforementioned dream sequence, and an org*sm-climax scene that plays sensual without being overly erotic.

Portraying the roles the eldest couple, Anne & Jack, Sarah Gavitt-Mendez and Zach Brewster-Geisz do a great job of portraying the lonely couple with sincerity and a bit of creepiness. The youngest couple, the awakening gay couple, Greg & David, (Drew Paramore and Ben Lauer), are individually fine actors, but their relationship seems forced, and I did not honestly believe they had any interest in each other. As the middle couple, Christie Jackson and Shane O'Loughlin are the standouts of the cast. Their characters, Richard and Emily, are the most developed, script-wise, but also in portrayal. Each actor is subtle in emotion, yet vibrant in execution, adding an extra level of detail to these forlorn lovers.

Overall, between a solid script by Lusk, a skillfully directed endeavor by Jung and the adeptness of the cast, (a love story) is a solid production all around as part of Cultural DC's Source Festival. The answer to question, "Can you fall in love if you don't know what love is?" is not easy to answer and the play does not attempt to answer this but rather show the variety of ways couples show love from beginning to end.

(a love story) plays through June 27, 2015 at the Source Festival - 1835 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20001

Box Office: 866.811.4111 or online.

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