Review: Lynn Rosen's THE OVERVIEW EFFECT a Grand Space Epic at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

One of the things I love about the Contemporary American Theater Festival is the way that plays commissioned well in advance of the summer turn out to be strangely prescient.  Consider the recent Titan disaster at the site of the wreck of the Titanic, a reminder that technological hubris can have deadly consequences.  Given the prominence of this catastrophe in our news feeds, Peggy McKowen’s choice to stage Lynn Rosen’s “The Overview Effect” on the Frank Center main stage this year was far more inspired than the Festival could have possibly imagined. 

And although the results are a bit chaotic—truth be known, this is a sprawling epic of a show which could use some trimming—the timeliness of its topic and its glorious performances make “The Overview Effect”, by rights, a major attraction for theatre goers this July.  A mix of straight drama and rock-musical-fantasy, “Overview” reaches for the stars while contemplating some of the more pressing issues surrounding space exploration (like, maybe, the imminent demise of our planet).

Rosen’s play begins with the explosion of an unmanned spacecraft in mid-air; an expert in air disasters, Dylan Marks, has been brought in to examine the entire production and execution process for this ill-fated launch.  Marks herself is no stranger to tragedy, having lost her parents to an airline disaster as a child; and even though there were no lives lost in this instance—the real consequence here being just a robber baron’s bruised ego—it is inevitable that memories of disasters past will impinge on her inquiry, and haunt her even as she goes over the details with a fine-toothed comb. 

What creates the loose ends here is Rosen’s desire to tie in a wide variety of elements – actors in space suits appear, first through Tennessee Dixon’s masterful projections, and then in the flesh, in spite of the fact that the launch in question was unmanned.  No astronauts having been harmed, it’s not clear why they keep cropping up at odd times throughout the play.

The core of this play is solid, however; taking as her theme the great, private-sector space race, Rosen has created two driven, power-hungry men whose space ambitions are as grandiose as their hatred for each other, both clearly modeled on Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.  Given that I’m not particularly fond of either of them, it’s a plus to see that Rosen has provided these protagonists with back-stories and character quirks, by turns amusing and touching, which render them more believable and a good bit more sympathetic than their real-life counterparts will ever be. 

As Ryker Nielsen, the Musk stand-in, Triney Sandoval delivers one of those great, over-the-top performances that is as riveting as it is hilarious.  Ryker’s monomania knows no bounds, as he entertains any and all theories of his precious rocket’s demise—so long as they don’t include the possibility that he might have made a mistake.  There isn’t a square inch of scenery left unchewed when Sandoval’s done with you, and you couldn’t ask for a more brilliant take-down of American corporate machismo.

As Jim Jefferson, Ryker’s competition, Chris Thorn’s queasy-calm demeanor creates a welcome contrast—but his mania for secrecy is as over-the-top as Ryker’s mania for blaming everyone around him when things go wrong.  Jefferson can be touching, but watch out.

As part of the sprawl of this piece there are several fun cameos, including a Silicon Valley Groupie who seems to know quite a lot about Ryker’s operation in spite of being generally shunned.  Emily Kratter’s turn as Sandy, the ditz who spends her life hanging out in the parking lot of Ryker’s HQ, is charming and very amusing in its own right. 

Then there’s the pizza delivery guy—whose route includes Marks’ hotel, and to whom Marks reaches out in desperation for human contact.  Julian Remulla provides a fun, romantic break in the action every time he delivers; and he is endearing for, among other things, his talent at electric guitar—which comes in handy, as Rosen has inserted musical fantasy sequences which he can accompany.  (Exactly what those sequences are doing here, well, I’ll leave you to decide, I couldn’t make head or tail of it myself).

Another of several sub-plots here, and quite close to the play’s core, is Marks’ obsession with the Cassini space probe.  Cassini’s long mission was remarkably successful, revealing so much about Saturn and its moons, and in such stunning detail.  The decision to allow it to disintegrate in Saturn’s atmosphere, while perfectly sensible, is still seen by Marks as a kind of death; it’s as if Cassini were a member of her family.  We frequently see Marks in her hotel room, rewinding and re-watching the narration of Cassini’s demise in a NASA documentary. 

Sofia Jean Gomez delivers a nuanced, passionate performance as Marks.  Haunted, browbeaten and yet with steely resolve, Gomez gives us a fascinating multi-facted individual, whose complexity is a welcome respite from the more two-dimensional careerist one might expect in this situation. 

One last bit of fun before we close out here; Rosen does find a way to make seemingly marginal characters vitally important, revealing yet another dimension to Marks’ character.  Gomez’s Marks is so obsessed with Cassini, and with the documentary about its mission, that she even tries to access out-takes of the film’s voice-over artist to find out how the narration of Cassini’s final moments was conceived.  Played here to hilarious effect by Milicent Wright, we have a reminder of the kinds of strange gigs actors get up to, in their quest to make a living.  Small, padded rooms with big mikes are hardly what Wright’s actor wanted, but a gig is a gig, and it’s great fun to see how she deals with that disembodied voice in the control room, micro-managing her every breath.

The Overview Effect has a lot to recommend it—much of its plot and intersecting story lines are well worth following.  And with some truly riveting acting, it’s hard to miss!

Production Photo:  Sofia Jean Gomez in the world premiere of The Overview Effect by Lynn Rosen at CATF in 2023. Photo by Seth Freeman.

Running Time:  2 hours, 45 minutes with one Intermission.

The Overview Effect runs as a part of the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, through July 30 at the Frank Center, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

For tickets visit https://catf.org/buy-tickets/.  You can also email the box office at boxoffice@catf.org or call them at 681-240-2283.

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