Two for the money
WCC shows sizzle
by Christopher Key
It is always a treat for me to review shows at Whatcom Community College, partly because I get exposed to playwrights I’d never see elsewhere and because the level of talent is extraordinary. This theatre program is a local treasure and you owe it to yourself to see every production.
Director Gerry Large has a gift for choosing plays that not only work well in the wonderful Black Box space, but for casting the right actors in the right parts. This time, he showcases two plays by Will Eno, a Brooklyn artist who has been described as “…a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.” Director Large amends that by calling him “…the Eugene Ionesco of the Will Ferrell generation.” Both descriptions are apt.
Eno has an uncanny ear for dialogue. Not stage dialogue, but the discourse of real people in real situations. It makes the real people in the audience squirm with uncomfortable recognition and that’s art, baby.
The first offering is called Intermission and is perfectly titled, being a conversation among four members of a theatrical audience at halftime. If you attend theatrical performances, you have heard this conversation and know these people. Maybe you have been one of them and that’s what delivers the squirm factor.
Gerent Gerrity plays the intellectual husband, analyzing the play for everyone’s benefit and completely dismissive of everything except his own fulminations. Gerrity is magnetic and I want to see more of him. His long-suffering wife is portrayed perfectly by the bizarrely bewigged Erika Almskar. She alternates between trying to compete with her insufferably pompous spouse and apologizing to the young couple in the adjacent seats for his pretensions.
That young couple, played by Colleen Ames and Rodney Dejager, are just out for an evening of entertainment and can’t quite understand why anyone would want to spoil the whole thing by deconstructing it. Strong performances all around.
There is no intermission after Intermission and perhaps there should be. You may need to relieve yourself before the second play makes you wet your pants. That play is called Tragedy: a tragedy and deals with that ultimate oxymoron called television journalism. The timing of this show couldn’t be better with the “Balloon Boy” media circus in our short-term memories.
The versatile Riley Penaluna plays a television anchorman trying desperately to convince his audience that the coming of night is something other than a non-story. It may happen every 24 hours, but it’s a slow news day and Channel 3 is covering it from every non-existent angle.
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Penaluna’s live on-the-scene reporters are instantly recognizable ego-driven archetypes of the media age. John Gonzales shines as the correspondent dressed in Banana Republic chic who sees himself as a war correspondent regardless of whether there is an actual war to cover. The brainless beauty queen who tries to unearth human interest where there is none is played brilliantly by Emily Lester.
Legal expert Michael is portrayed by Tim Greger with deadly accuracy and an embarrassing willingness to suck up to whatever politician decides to comment on the non-story. The only member of the general public willing to comment on the non-story is played by Jake Martin with an honesty that belies the hunger of a populace consumed with the desire to have their own reality show.
With no viable story to cover, the correspondents descend into predictable solipsism and the poor anchorman has to maintain the pretense that this is journalism. It’s a marvelous ensemble performance by gifted actors and you’ll think you’ve seen them all on the nightly news. And you have.
Two Plays by Will Eno performs at the Whatcom Community College Black Box Theatre November 18-21 at 7:30 p.m. and November 21 at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for $7 or $5 with a student ID.
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