TWO HEADED

Insightful, effective ‘TWO HEADED’ at TITLEWave

September 11 will long be noted as a day that changed America and its attitude toward “foreigners.” No, this isn’t the 9/11 of 2001, this is the September day in 1857 when 127 California bound men, women and children from Arkansas and Missouri were killed by a group of zealous Mormons.

The Mormons, who practiced polygamy, were reacting not only to the “gentiles” crossing their territory, but to the fact that in 1844 Mormon prophet Joseph Smith and his son were killed in a Carthage, Missouri jail. The mass killing was a way to “revenge the death of the Mormon prophets and punish non-believers.”

Until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and then the World Trade Center attack, the Mountain Meadows Massacre was the largest civilian atrocity of non-Native Americans, on US soil. Only one man, John Doyle Lee, was ever put on trial for the massacre. After two trials he was executed some 20 years after the event.

Though Julie Jensen’s play, ‘TWO HEADED,’ concerns the massacre, it is only one of many topics dealt with. The play, in five scenes, each spanning 10 years, examines the lives of two Mormon women, Lavinia and Hettie, from the time of the massacre. Jensen showcases the impact on the choices the women make and those made for them in the male-controlled culture.

As one reviewer states, “The perspective forces the audience to imagine what it was like to be a Mormon woman in the nineteenth century and thus understand how we all circumvent speaking freely about a lot of things. It transforms docudrama into the saga of a friendship pieced together like one of the women's painstakingly sewn quilts threatening to fray, but invariably patched together again.”

In this era of a serious bid for the US presidency by Mitt Romney, a devote Mormon, it is a perspective that may help some to understand the concepts of his religion, even in this era when the views toward pluralistic marriage have altered.

It should be noted that the author has a “deep, abiding hatred of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints” and her ‘TWO-HEADED’ is considered by believers to be a ferocious attack upon the church. Jensen sees Brigham Young’s creation as an “edifice for the sexual gratification of lecherous men.” This concept is clearly showcased in the play’s final moments when Hettie asks Lavinia about the two-headed calf that supposedly was hidden in a cellar. Lavinia states that it was a lie which she made up. It is clearly author Jensen’s analogy for the Mormon church and its hidden rituals.

Jensen's straightforward writing embraces humor as well as sadness. Each of the five scenes carries us further into an elliptical story of the machinations of each of the women, with comments about the church. Each segment is bridged by a religious or philosophical song.

TITLEWave’s production, under the steady direction of Greg Vovos, gets everything possible out of the script. The characterizations are clearly etched, the underlying concepts revealed.

The strong-willed, often maniacal Lavinia is well-portrayed by Holly Holsinger. At the start it is a little difficult to believe that she is 10-years old, but once the idea sets in, the ideas flow. The character’s strong personality and her obvious lesbian love for the never seen Jane, receive a strong and textured development.

Chris Seibert, as the sensitive, trusting and naive Hettie is believable from the start. She gives the role a child-like presence throughout, even as a mature woman. It is easy to accept that she is a willing participant in her fate.

Lydia Chanenka’s set design, mainly consisting of a gnarled tree from which the massacre is viewed by Lavinia, remains, like Jensen’s view of the Morman church, strong, but misshapen. The backdrop of burning red colors symbolically remains throughout the presentation to remind us of the overlying effect of the massacre.

Capsule judgment: ‘TWO HEADED’ is a vivid play which holds our attention for its hour-and-a-half intermissionless presentation through fine acting and a consistent concept.

Charge (TITLEWave Theatre)

‘CHARGE’--acting and directing excellent at TITLEWave THEATRE

Last fall introduced the Cleveland area to a new performance group...TITLEWave Theatre. The company’s first production was the much praised ‘WAIT.’ My review stated, “In spite of the play, the production is worth seeing for the performances and Vovos’s directing skills.” That, again, summarizes my views of the group’s newest offering, ‘CHARGE.’

Authors pen plays for various reasons. William Inge asked his audiences to look in the hidden recesses of their souls and find the dark places. Arthur Miller continues to tell of a better way to live. Tennessee Williams gave us tales of people who found themselves in societies that didn’t understand them and they, in turn, didn’t understand the society around them. Lerner and Loewe’s musicals painted a picture of the perfect time, the perfect place, and the perfect love story. Edward Albee and Albert Camus both asked viewers to probe into why they exist.

Since Eric Kaiser, the author of ‘CHARGE’ now being staged at Cleveland Public theatre, is noted as an absurdist, he would fall into the Albee and Camus group. Unfortunately, unlike Albee and Camus, Kaiser does not craft a well-conceived play. As one theatre goer said as he exited the production of ‘CHARGE’ which I attended, “What in the hell was that about!” His companion said, “Who cares.” Unfortunately, that was my sentiment.

In spite of the vehicle, ‘WAIT’ is worth seeing. Seeing that is, if you are willing to invest in the 80 minutes of intermissionless dialogue, to see a very good cast operating under the guidance of an effective director.

Jill Levin, Kato Buss, Marni Task, Joe Milan and Perren Hedderson let loose all the cannons in creating their characters. Director Gregory Vovos knows his way around a stage and gets his actors to create his vision of what the playwright has given him to work with. He is aided by an excellent sound design by Zach Humes.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: The program for ‘CHARGE’ states, “Sometimes a play strikes so hard that you can’t shake off its blow. And on the rarest of occasions, a play can do this and leave you laughing. For some people in the audience laughing was the order of the day. For many others, including this reviewer, the production values were high, the insight values low.

Stone Cold Dead Serious (TITLEwave Theatre)

Befuddeling 'STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS' at TITLEwave Theatre

Adam Rapp is one of the new breed of young American playwrights. He uses modern day situations, surreal ideas and often implausible plot twists and turns to create an illusion of a society under the microscope.

Rapp has been called a cross between writers Christopher Durang and Sam Shepard. But, as one critic states, “This writer of young adult sci-fi novels has neither the ingenuity of the former or the searing honesty of the latter.” Another observer states that ‘STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS,’ the play TITLEWave Theatre is now co-producing with Cleveland Public Theatre, illustrates “one dilemma when producing new works. . .cultural ephemera quickly become clichés. Problems worsen when bizarre characters combine with a stale sci-fi theme.”

This view is counter-balanced by critics, who, after seeing the same production stated, “If you’re interested in playwriting talent and want to see it muscling toward maturity, you’ll find no more fascinating example than ‘STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS.’ Another stated, ‘STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS’ is a gritty, funny, surreal journey through extreme psychic landscapes.”

So, what’s all the fuss about? The Ledbetters are, what has been termed in self-help psychology, as a dysfunctional family. They are definitely a group who should appear on Jerry Springer as freaks or as candidates for serious help by Dr. Phil.

Husband and father Clifford is on worker's comp, a semi-zombie skidding along on pain pills and beer. Wife Linda works overtime as a waitress, obsesses about saints and vainly tries to retain a sense of family. Daughter Shaylee has bailed out, and now lives on the street as a drug-addicted whore. The only one who has a floating glimpse of reality is brother Wynne, a computer whiz, who has managed to offset a sense of duty to this sick group with his own obsession: a Samurai-themed computer game at which he is so good he finds himself as one of three finalists invited to come to New York for a live reenactment/contest in which the winner will get $1 million. He ventures forth stopping along the way to pick up one of the other competitors, a mute girl named Sharice, with whom he has fallen in love online. What follows are some scenes which could have been left out (a hitchhiking sidetrack in which he earns $100 participating in a sex act and a visit from Snake Lady, a colorful East Village denizen who occupies the room next door). After a brutal and bloody competition there is an unclear resolution.

I found the script riddled with detours, and in the end the writer seems at a loss as to how to wrap up the whole thing.

I’m still trying to figure out what message I was supposed to carry from the play. But that may be my issue...I like plays that when they set out to teach me something, make that message clear. I’m willing to think, but not to dig and create meaning as that is the job of the playwright.

The good news for this production is that there's a lot worthwhile to see. Young Stephen Dale gives an outstanding performance as Wynne. He gets the very most out of a character which is often given lines that are both unrealistic and not well written.

Meg Kelly Schroeder, as the mother and the Snake Lady, Robert Ellis as the father and the auto driver, and Magdalyn Donnelly as the sister and girlfriend, all are quite good.

Director Gregory Vovos has paced the play well and has pointed the cast in the right direction.

‘STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS’ is not a play for everyone. If you like pseudo/contemporary plays you’ll probably like this one. If you are a traditionalist, you will probably leave the theatre upset that you paid money to see the play. No matter, be aware that the show contains blunt language, simulated decapitation and sexual situations. Again, these are a turn-on for some and a turn-off for others.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: I pass on recommending or not recommending. (Gee, does that make me like the playwright, unable to come to a clear ending?)

Wait! (TITLEWave Theatre)

Acting in ‘WAIT!’ exceeds script

It seems ironic in this era when some local theatres are disbanding or cutting their seasons due to the financial crunch that a new performance arts company would blossom forth. Believing that Cleveland has a strong theatre tradition and had a need to enhance local offerings by prvoiding a place for new, untested plays to be produced, TITLEWave Theatre, the brain child of Gregory and Jean Marie Vovos, has emerged.

Having been the co-producer, along with Wayne Turney, of Lorain County Community College’s “New Ohio Play Festival,” I am aware of the difficulties of not only getting a new project off the ground, but of sustaining it. It can only be hoped that the Vovos’s adventure sails forth on a tidal wave of success.

They have chosen to mount Julie Jensen’s ‘WAIT’ as their first venture. Ms. Jensen has a Ph.D. in theatre and has taught playwriting at various universities including heading the graduate playwriting program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It is there that Greg Vovos met her and decided to produce and direct one of her shows.

In spite of her credentials, if ‘WAIT!’ is typical Jensen, then there is much to be desired in her style. The play rambles, leaving the audience wondering what it is all about. Yes, the central character, Wendy Burger (yep, that’s her name), has a coming of age experience, but so what? If this is intended to be a play of character studies, only Wendy seems to be a complete character. All of the others are prototypes, paper cut outs of people. Do we really care about any of them? Carrying about, identifying with, feeling empathy toward the characters is the central building block of good theatre. This is almost missing in ‘WAIT!.’

In spite of the play, the production is worth seeing for the performances and Vovos’s directing skills. He gets everything he can from the script, plus some. He is aided by a very talented cast.

Jennifer Clifford is charming, sensitive, and endearing as Wendy, a shy young woman adrift, but focused on a career in the theatre. Randy Rollison transfers between three different characters with ease.

As Wendy’s loutish, hard drinking dad, he is Archie Bunker at his verbal worst. As Lu, a flamboyant gay theatre director, he is a mincing delight. As Hazar, a nasty, almost comatose foreigner, he is compelling. This is a fine performance.

Meg Chamberlin plays two roles with complete separation. Her Floating Pinata Head is a Kathryn Hepburn-type theatre diva on her worst day and her meat cutter Modesto is properly tramp-like.

Marni Task is endearing as the cheerleader/actress O Vixen My Vixen. She does, however, lose some of her appeal in the closing scenes of the play as she has trouble making the transitions between the air-headed teenager and the resigned-to-the realities-of-life woman.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: TITLEWave Theatre has undertaken an important task...to share with audiences new, untried plays. It is to be expected that they will experience highs and lows as they bring these untested works to the stage. If the production qualities of ‘WAIT!’ continue, audiences can look forward to high quality on-stage work in spite of potential script weaknesses.