EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE... // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "HALF MOON BAY"

BY MATEO MORENO

When does curiosity become obsession? When does an innocent crush become a dangerous longing? And at what point does a friend step in to try and save his drowning friend? In HALF MOON BAY, Nylon Fusion Theatre Company paints a vividly drawn world of the journey from longing to obsession in beautiful detail. Richie (Ben Gougeon) is an architect in New York City, recently engaged to the beautiful Pam (Jean Goto). Pam is smart and caring, and from the perspective of their best friend Tom (Brennan Taylor), they're perfect together. So perfect it's sickening. The three of them have dinner at a local bar, where a waitress named Alicia (Ivette Dumeng) serves them. It's her first shift and she's pretty terrible. Sweet, but terrible. Tom has to stop himself from being too sarcastically mean to her, though Pam and Richie are understanding. Richie however, is also drawn to her and isn't quite sure why. Soon, he finds himself heading back to the bar to see her, without his fiancée or best friend in tow. He wants to spend time talking with her, getting to know her. First he waits at the bar, then he waits outside until she gets off work, offering to call her a car home with no strings. But there's always strings, and these strings become more and more obsessive as each day passes until everyone starts to take notice of his behavior becoming more and more erratic. Yes, this is most definitely not going to end well for everyone involved.

Playwright John Jiler has written a really intriguing script but even more so, he and Director Margarett Perry embraces pure theatricality to tell it. Tom narrates the show, sometimes literally talking directly to the audience. Slight shifts of lighting tell us of time passage or new scenarios. Two moments on stage happen at once inside the same playing area. It's a gorgeous, creative gamble that truly pays off. In the wrong hands, Tom could come off as an insufferable ass. But in the truly crafty hands of actor Brennan Taylor, he's douchy but lovable. Loyal but a bit of a cad. And he truly does care for his best friend and his fiancée, also seeing her as the "one who got away."

Ben Gougeon plays Richie with a pulsating danger. You see him as a lovable, everyday man who slowly starts slipping off the deep end without knowing why. And then not being able to necessarily come back. It's a strong, strange performance that really works. Jean Goto's Pam comes off as loving but a bit overbearing, however I'm not sure if that's the character as written or a choice Goto made. It's not necessarily a bad choice, but it gives a "thin" reasoning of why he may stray. I think it might have been all the more interesting without a reason at all. However, her confronting moments, though written powerfully tragic and acted well, felt a bit rushed. Ivette Dumeng as the strange and childlike Alicia is a powerful presence here. Her choices often don't make sense at first but she draws you in to believe them, and she makes you want to be on her side. She also moves from extreme emotions expertly and make you long for someone to understand her, not try and mold her to what they need. Overall it's a fascinating play that took me by surprise. HALF MOON BAY is a well-drawn warning into the dangers of even the smallest obsession, and how your imaginary life may not be all that it's cracked up to be.

MATEO'S GRADE: A-

Written by: John Jiler Directed by: Margarett Perry Starring: Brennan Taylor, Ben Gougeon, Jean Goto, and Ivette Dumeng

MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconscious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

TRUTHS AND MIRRORS // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "THE BIG FUNK"

BY MATEO MORENO

Less than a month after John Patrick Shanley’s newest play, the charmer Outside Mullingar, closed on Broadway, New York audiences are treated to a lost Shanley gem.  I say “lost” because it was lost to me.  Somehow, his 1990 play THE BIG FUNK had completely bypassed my radar.  So it’s with great pleasure that I can thank Nylon Fusion Theatre Company for introducing this strange, odd, and beautiful play to me.  The Big Funk tells several different tales all at once, interweaving them by the end of the evening.  Jill (Ivette Dumeng) begins the evening speaking directly to the audience (a device that the characters use often) telling them who she is, and how she is not the hero of the play, but a coward and self destructive.  She flirts with a man in a bar named Gregory (Paul Walling) who treats her like dirt and literally rubs Vaseline on her face.  Next up is Omar (Josh Sienkiewicz), a man who throws knives and sometimes treats his wife Fifi (Meghan Jones) like his own personal assistant.  She interrupts his day to day by announcing that they’re going to have a baby.  Two babies!  Tomorrow!  This does not go over as well as she had hoped.  And then there’s Ausin (Jacob Troy) an out of work actor who sees the wounded Jill and wants to help her, wants to feel as if he’s doing something good in the world.  Don’t we all?

The Big Funk (which is playing in rep with Don Nigro’s A Snowfall in Berlin) is an odd mixture of absurdist comedy and drama, individual scenes mixing into a bigger ensemble piece.  All of which builds up to a play that doesn’t feel like every day fare, and truly has some beautiful things to say.  I can only imagine countless companies reading this script and scratching their heads furiously, wondering how they can stage such a challenging piece and still hit all the necessary cords.  Luckily for us, Nylon Fusion doesn’t seem to have faced that problem as the play, directed by Lori Kee, moves along effortlessly, consistently engaging you and pulling you into inspired directions.

The cast of five are all exceptional; Jacob Troy is heartfelt and tender.  He nary raises his voice yet always immediately captures your attention.  Here is an actor that can truly draw you in with just the tone of his voice.  Ivette Dumeng gives a powerful portrait of a woman in crisis.  It’s uncomfortable to watch her dinner date sequence (aided by a richly dark performance by Paul Walling) and you can’t help but smile as she finds Austin, or they find each other, and begins to heal.  Her performance is delicate, truthful, and raw, and she encompasses all of it, often with just a fading look.  Josh Sienkiewicz’s Omar is a complete bag of thoughts, feelings worn on his sleeve (and dripping out of his mouth), and deep inside a tender and loving man, unsure of how to respond to almost anything.   I don’t think I’ve seen a performance like his in a good long while, meaning that he often says terrible things but showcases so many hidden thoughts and ideas that we lay deep within ourselves.  As his wife, Meghan Jones is a firecracker of energy from the very get go.  In an ensemble of brooding characters, Jones’s energy is a welcome addition at every turn.  Each actor (with the chilly exception of the dark turn taken by Walling) brings a warmth and though provoking tenderness to their roles.  Add in music (and sound effects) by the band “The Roly Polys” (who sing a very witty “scene change song”) and you’ve got yourself an incredibly unique piece of theatre.  The Big Funk has a lot to say.  It preaches without being preachy.  It’s self aware without being self indulgent.  And it touches on human nature in a raw, beautiful way.  See it.  See the funk.

MATEO’S GRADE: A-

Directed by: Lori Kee  Written By: John Patrick Shanley Starring: Jacob Troy, Ivette Dumeng, Josh Sienkiewicz, Meghan Jones, Paul Walling. Now through April 6th, 2014 at La Tea @ Clemente Soto Velez, NYC. For tickets: http://bigfunk.brownpapertickets.com/

Content Advisory: Language and Nudity.

BOTTOM LINE:  A play that gives you questions that don’t always get answered can be a frustrating one or it can be inspired.  Here, we have inspired.

TO SEE ANOTHER DAY // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "LUFT GANGSTER"

BY MATEO MORENO

The horrors of war are something we all hope we never have to experience.  Seeing your friend die right before your eyes, being so hungry that you can't tell day from night, never being able to completely trust people around you…  All of these moments can make fascinating theatre, and they do in Nylon Fusion Theatre Company's latest offering LUFT GANGSTER, directed by Austin Pendleton (MTC's Choir Boy).  Lowell Byers (who also wrote the piece) plays Lou, a young man who, after the death of his mother, enlists in the army and heads off into the horror that was WWII.  His plane is shot down and he's captured by the Nazi's.  He goes through several interrogations before bonding with other prisoners of war, both British and American Soldiers.  Together they form an uneasy alliance as they try to make it from day to day without any source of rescue in sight.

Byers has crafted a powerful, moving, and even funny mediation on the horror of being a POW in WWII.  The dialogue is natural and the scenes are thrilling, masterfully directed by Pendleton.  The scenes flow with a natural authenticity, and never feel "stagey" or false.  His portrayal of Lou is one (of many) highlights in the show.  Byers, with his leading man looks, takes a tender approach to the role and you fully embrace his journey from naive man of faith to a man who's seen far too much for such a young age.  The entire ensemble has standout moments, and every one of them bring a powerhouse performance.  Noel Joseph Allain and Seth James play two British soldiers, and together present a powerful presence.  The final scene in Act I is a thrilling, subtle gripping showcase for both of them.  Their captors are played by Ralph Byers (Broadway's The Music Man), Gabe Bettio (Classic Stages Three Sisters), and Eyal Sherf (Pirates of Penzance).  Each actor holds a terrifying quality, yet Bettio's Otto is also surprisingly tender, showing a man who is stuck in a world he doesn't want to necessarily be a part of.  It's a subtle, wonderful performance.  Sherf also brings welcome levity in a drunken scene, as does Paul Bomba (Beirut) who's character Vinny is the opposite of all of his quieter captors.  An opening monologue about circumcision allows you to laugh, even in the face of such a horrible situation.

Yet for all of the good, there are a few bumps in the road.  The luminous Casandra M.J. Lollar (The Runner Stumbles) is very affecting in all three roles she plays, but each one is sadly underwritten.  I would have loved to have seen more of each of them, especially when played by an actress of this caliber.  The show is in a very cramped space, which works for some scenes, but also severely limits other staging, something I hope can be touched on in the sure to be future incarnations.  And even with a few abrupt moments in Act II (including an ending that is this close to working), it doesn't diminish the power of the play.  Lou's story of a man who someone keeps surviving against all odds is a fascinating one (the play is written loosely based on Byers' own interviews with his cousin Lou Fowler) and with a larger space and, hopefully the same cast, the show can really soar.

Written by Lowell Byers  Directed by Austin Pendleton Starring Lowell Byers, Noel Joseph Allain, Gabe Bettio, Paul Bomba, Christopher Burke, Ralph Byers, Kyel DeSpiegler, Seth James, Casandera M.J. Lollar, Eyal Sherf  Content Warning: (Adult Language, Violence) Played at: The Strelsin Theatre @ Abington Theatre Company (312 W. 36th Street, NYC)

Mateo’s Grade: A-

Bottom Line: Haunting and moving, Byers, Pendelton, and Nylon Fusion have quite a power piece here.  One that is sure to move you.