Orders
by Kevin D. Ferguson
Directed by Taylor Gruenloh
Tesseract Theatre Company
November 15, 2014
David Smithson, Brenna Whitehurst
Photo: Tesseract Theatre Company
Tesseract Theatre Company’s latest production, Orders by Kevin D. Ferguson, explores issues of faith, love, and duty. It’s an intriguing play with a fascinating premise along with timely and thought-provoking situations. Tesseract’s production is technically proficient in its simple staging, although uneven casting makes the story somewhat difficult to completely believe.
Orders provides much to think about as young lovers Maggie (Brenna Whitehurst) and Troy (David Smithson) deal with their own personal issues of faith and duty. Maggie is a devout Catholic, dutifully saying her prayers and attending confession, and trying to reconcile her devotion with Troy’s general apathy about the subject, as well as his inability to hold a job. When Troy suddenly joins the Marines and Maggie is confronted with an unusual experience that leads her to believe she’s being called to become a nun, their relationship becomes even more complicated. Maggie also has a challenging relationship with her best friend Adam (Jarris Williams), a fun-loving guy who is seriously considering his commitment to his devoted Marine boyfriend Joe (Maalik Shakour), who is currently deployed in Afghanistan and is shown reciting letters to Adam, Maggie and Troy. Maggie’s frequent trips to the confessional reveal her conflicted thoughts about her own religious beliefs and her desire to serve God on the one hand, and her concerns with certain teachings of the Catholic church–such as its teachings about same-sex relationships such as Adam’s and Joe’s–on the other.
This is a very fascinating play in terms of script. A lot of concepts are brought together and enacted in intriguing ways, with well-defined and relatable characters. The ending is perhaps too simplistic, although I wonder if the problem there is really with the script, or with the cast. The uneven performances sometimes make the play difficult to follow, especially in the critical scenes of Maggie’s devotional life. Whitehurst has some good moments, usually in her scenes with the excellent Williams and Smithson, although perhaps the most central aspect of her character–her devout Catholic faith–is difficult to believe, as Whitehurst recites the prayers and confessions with very little sense of conviction. These scenes, which should be crucial to understanding Maggie’s dilemma, only add more confusion because of the lackluster an unenthusiastic line delivery. Smithson as Troy is in a similar situation, although his initially subdued performance does gain some energy in later scenes as he talks about his devotion to both Maggie and the Marines. He and Whitehurst do show some convincing romantic chemistry, though. Williams is more successful in his engaging performance as the conflicted but loving Adam, and Shakoor delivers the play’s strongest scenes as the strong, dedicated Joe. As excellent as Shakoor is, I found myself wishing he had more scenes.
Although I had seen their production at this year’s St. Lou Fringe Festival, I hadn’t seen a full length production at Tesseract before. One impressive thing I discovered is that each Tesseract show begins with a 10 minute pre-show–a short play that’s been written to cover a theme similar to the main production. The latest pre-show is called “Spooky Action At a Distance” by Will Coleman, directed by Sean Green. This is a compelling little drama that’s set up as a series of parallel monologues by two performers (Sean Michael and Maalik Shakoor), talking about the roles of science and faith in their lives. It’s a thoughtful dramatic exercise that’s well-performed by both actors and provides an effective introduction to topics concerning faith–whether its religious or otherwise. It’s a good lead-in to Orders, which deals with its issues in a more confrontational way.
Orders is a short play, running about 75 minutes or so, with a simple but effective set and a thought-provoking introduction in the form of the 10 minute pre-show. It’s an impressive script from playwright Ferguson, although the unpolished, uneven performances of the some of the cast make me think about what this play could be like if cast more ideally. Tesseract’s presentation is still worthwhile, if flawed, and gives its audience a great deal to think about in terms of love, duty and belief.
Maalik Shakoor
PhotoL Tesseract Theatre Company
Leave a Reply