LaBute New Theater Festival
Set Two
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
July 20, 2019
The second set of St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s LaBute New Theater Festival is now on stage at the Gaslight Theatre. Featuring a fresh collection of plays, all ably directed by Wendy Renee Greenwood, and the one holdover–festival namesake LaBute’s entry “Great Negro Works of Art” (directed by John Pierson). Featuring strong casts, these plays are also thought-provoking if not quite as well-formed as most of the first set. A new set of issues is in focus here, including artificial intelligence and privacy issues with technology, as well as journalistic integrity and couples therapy. Here are some thoughts about Set Two:
“Predilections”
by Richard Curtis
Directed by Wendy Renee Greenwood
Kim Furlow, Tiélere Cheatem
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
This play, which opens the newer set, features a meeting between a reporter named Sparlin (Tiélere Cheatem), and an enigmatic stranger named Laura (Kim Furlow). Being a journalist and former Pulitzer Prize winner who now writes obituaries, Sparlin has done research on Laura, but he hasn’t figured out why she wants to see him. As the plot–or really, the conversation–unfolds, Laura tells Sparlin a story, the importance of which becomes clear soon enough. It’s an intriguing concept, with the intended ideas apparently being about sensationalism in journalism and how easy it is for a person’s whole life to be obscured by one incident, but as a play it doesn’t have much suspense or structure. It’s just a conversation, basically. Furlow and Cheatem do well in their roles, bringing about as much drama as this play can produce, although there isn’t much here that couldn’t be covered just as well by an essay.
“Henrietta”
by Joseph Krawczyk
Directed by Wendy Renee Greenwood
Chuck Brinkley
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
The evening’s second play is its cleverest concept, being part “perils of modern technology” tale and part morality play. Here, as Carl (Chuck Brinkley) prepares for an extramarital tryst in a nearby motel, he finds his new “upgraded” GPS AI has other plans. Called “Henrietta” and voiced by Carly Rosenbaum, this AI isn’t putting up with Carl’s excuses, taking him for a nightmare ride as she takes control of his car. It’s an especially well-acted and staged bit of thriller-fantasy that’s especially chilling is its basic plausibility. It’s one of those “be careful what you do when you don’t think anyone’s looking” tales beefed up with a bit of “Big Brother” technological fear thrown in for good measure. The staging and pacing here is crisp and chilling, and both Brinkley and Rosenbaum give especially convincing performances, and particularly Rosenbaum as the determinedly in-control “Henrietta”.
“Sysyphus and Icarus: a Love story”
by William Ivan Fowkes
Directed by Wendy Renee Greenwood
Tiélere Cheatem, Shane Signorino
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
The final of the new entries for Set Two is a cute concept that evolves into something reminiscent of a late-episode Saturday Night Live sketch. It’s a fun concept, with the mythological figures of Sysyphus (Tiélere Cheatem) and Icarus (Shane Signorino) speaking in faux-Shakespearean dialogue and forming an attraction, then, as the story veers into SNL territory, they show up a few years later as a married couple clad in hipster-ish beanies being counseled by the New York-accented Libra (Colleen Backer), a self-promotional therapist who tries to help them see why their once-exciting relationship has soured. It’s a fun show, full of broad comedy that brings laughs but not much in the way of substance. The performers seem to be having a great time, though, and they’re all excellent. The production values are particularly notable here, too, with great work from festival costume designer Megan Harshaw and lighting designers Patrick Huber (who also designed the set) and Tony Anselmo.
Overall, the LaBute Festival continues to be an intriguing showcase for new playwrights, with some hits and misses but with some thought-provoking subject matter and strong work from the actors and directors. Set Two has one more weekend left, and it’s worth checking out.
St. Louis Actors’ Studio is presenting Set Two of the LaBute New Theater Festival at the Gaslight Theatre until July 28, 2019