WAITING FOR... // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "HIT YOUR MARK / DIE BEAUTIFUL"

BY MATEO MORENO

If you've been to enough theatre in New York City, you've seen some really bad shows. Sure, you've also seen some amazing work. But chances are you have a friend who's an actor. Or a friend of a friend. Or a potential love interest that's doing some experimental puppet opera in a converted CVS. And you go and you simply can't believe how bad it is. Truth is, there's a part of me that really loves absolutely bad theatre. Not in the same way I adore a great piece of theatre. But bad theatre is just as common, and in many ways just as vital, to the New York theatre scene. spit & vigor's new show HIT YOUR MARK/DIE BEAUTIFUL explores, with a loving touch, just how bad BAD theatre can be.

The premise is a play within a play. We are watching the run through, more or less in real time, of a really bad downtown play. We know that this play is bad right away due to one of the characters monologues that break the fourth wall. Rich (Nick Thomas) tells us that he's been in an accident and won't survive to see Opening Night. But that's okay cause he absolutely HATES this play. We meet the director Atom (Laura Sisskin) who, if you've been in a handful of bad plays in NYC, will remind you of at least five people you know immediately. She's worried about things like if the audience will understand her abstract concept of a light going on and off several times. She confides in her cast while at the same time scares them. Cass (Kyra Jackson) and Skip (Peter Oliver) are both actors in the show as is Annie (Giselle Elise) an older dancer who tells a vivid story about how she ended up dancing for Martha Graham. Finally there's Juliana (Morgan Zipf-Meister), the stage manager who knows how bad the show is and states that, "A stage manager can't really make the play better" but I can for sure make it worse. So I just have to do my job."

There are several moments played directly to the audience as well as moments that have us simply existing in the rehearsal, in real time. Some audience members, I suppose, might find this tedious. But I found it thrilling. Oliver has written a fantastic play and the stellar cast often feel like they're improvising the dialogue (they're not, but that's how good some of the scenes are). Sara Fellini directs the evening with both an expertly comically touch and an emotional one. There are several moments that moved me and then there are moments, like Rich's wonderful monologues, that had me in stitches. I feel like a general audience can have a blast at HIT YOUR MARK/DIE BEAUTIFUL but if you're an actor it's a great show topped with a great inside joke. There's no intermission here, and I for one am glad. I didn't want the spell to be broken until I walked away. Continuing the tradition of films like Waiting for Guffman that playfully explores bad theatre, HIT YOUR MARK/DIE BEAUTIFULLY excels with a fiery and onery soul. A perfect recipe for our return to live in-person theatre.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN BY Peter Oliver DIRECTED BY Sara Fellini STARRING Laura Sisskin, Kyra Jackson, Morgan Zipf-Meister, Nick Thomas, Peter Oliver, Giselle Elise PLAYING THROUGH NOV. 24TH AT THE NEW OHIO THEATRE. FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFO: HIT YOUR MARK / DIE BEAUTIFUL