The Rites of Passage, the second of the three 10-minute play events which opened the Source Festival, involves those pivotal moments that help define our character and provide a solid basis for a number of different playwriting choices.
Phone Tree
By Daniel Heath
Directed by Jennifer L. Nelson
Mitch (Christian Sullivan) is at his wit’s end when he calls customer service about his computer. He is initially confronted with the standard recordings we’ve all heard (“Your call is important to us. Please listen as our menu choices have changed.”). He is encountering what the program calls a “sentient phone tree algorithm.”
Phone Tree isn’t the first work to use this concept, but author Daniel Heath takes it in a funnier and deeper direction as the Operator (Thembi Duncan) advises Mitch. She both provides some counseling and insights to Mitch, as well as describing her own existential loneliness.
Christian Sullivan is very entertaining as he expresses his frustrations with his computer and with life generally. Thembi Duncan is eerily effective as the phone operator voice. This play is a real winner and worth catching.
Cyanocitta
By Jason Gray Platt
Directed by Ryan Maxwell
Cyanocitta is a logical pairing with Phone Tree. It involves another man in need of some perspective from an unusual source.
Bell (Kyle Encinas) returns for his ten-year high school reunion despite the fact that he had an unhappy experience in what he considers a Darwinian war zone. He strikes up a conversation at a game with the high school’s mascot, a role he used to fill. Jay-Jay the mascot (Rachael Murray in a blue jay costume) has a secret she shares that gives the play a clever twist.
Ryan Maxwell’s writing evidences real skill and maturity. The two characters develop an odd but natural rapport and the play’s messages are worthy thoughts.
Be What You Wish To Seem
By Jonathan Spector
Directed by Debbi Arseneaux
Three characters get the choice to make changes in their lives far beyond those available to normal humans. For example, Tim (Julian Gordon) decides to try what it would be like to be an old Tibetan woman. As you might guess, the experience is not everything he imagined, but it is a hilarious experience for the rest of us.
Tim’s choice means he has to leave his girlfriend Tamara (Neelam Patel) who talks out the situation with friend Alison (Jenny Donovan). All of these young adults have issues which are astutely reflected in their choices and their characterizations.
Be What You Wish To Seem is fanciful and funny. It seems a sly satire on a generation which is searching for meaning in a complex world.
Exposure
By Walt McGough
Directed by Ryan Maxwell
Exposure is the story of a boy on the verge of manhood (Kyle Encinas), trapped on an ice floe with a polar bear (Raven Bonniwell) who can talk, but have no fear, this encounter is far from a Disney story.
The boy wonders whether the bear will eat him. The bear, in turn, strikes up a dialogue with the boy. The bear taunts the boy at times about being a coward, a dangerous choice since the boy is toting a rifle. Is the bear being empathetic or does she just like playing with her food?
Exposure offers a well-written coming of age story. The two characters are believable (yes, even the bear). Before the play’s end, we learn that life is not fair, but the characters must each do what they need to survive.
The Cliff
By Nelson Diaz-Marcano
Directed by Debbi Arseneaux
Lou and Gabe gather on a cliff to mark a sad anniversary. Before long we learn that the two are Biblical characters involved in a long-term conflict.
Handling a story with religious roots can be a minefield, but playwright Nelson Diaz-Marcano gives the two characters a solid psychological grounding. Lou (Arden Moscati) is an angry character in mourning with a bitter view of God, while Gabe (Julian Gordon) tries to reconcile his friendship with Lou despite their differences.
The result is a powerful drama that succeeds in illuminating the two men and their characters. The Cliff is a totally absorbing short play.
Collider
By Cullen T.M. McGough
Directed by Ryan Maxwell
Collider involves two scientists in a repeating but differing scene (similar to the film Groundhog Day). Prius is a new scientist who has come to work on analyzing data from a super collider. She introduces herself to Dakota (Raven Bonniwell), a more senior scientist on the project. Each time their conversation is interrupted by a frantic Frank (Kyle Encinas) and intercom warnings of potential disaster.
The two scientists have a variety of conversations, some of which pose questions grounded in quantum physics. Playwright Cullen T.M. McGough makes these issues understandable and interesting (e.g., what if there’s no “time,” what if there are infinite universes, etc.). She skillfully shows questions of science intersecting with philosophy and human nature is an appealing character piece.
* * * * *
The “Rites of Passage” 10-minute plays is one of the strongest collections of work that this reviewer has seen in many Source Festivals. Perhaps the topic is a fertile ground for playwrights, or maybe it’s just luck of the draw, but this group of works should be high on the list of Source Festival patrons.
Produced by The Source Festival
Reviewed by Steven McKnight
The 2012 Source Festival runs thru July 1, 2012 at Source, 1835 14th St NW, Washington, DC.
Details and tickets
Produced by The Source Festival
Reviewed by Steven McKnight
Recommended
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes with 1 intermission
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