Rhubarb Theatre stages original script by new artistic director Trish Crist
by Martin Brady
- Jacques Crist
- L-R: (standing) Trish Crist, Megan Murphy, (on couch) Dave Shetler, Jack E. Chambers, Chris Basso
Rhubarb Theatre, now under the creative direction of Trish Crist, appears to be off to a spirited new beginning, while maintaining the caliber of work the forward-thinking company has mounted since it was founded by Julie Alexander in 2003. Alexander moved to Newcastle, England, earlier this year.
The keen-minded Crist, a fearless and committed actress whose résumé includes some notable stage excursions into character work and mask theater, turns playwright with the debut of the currently running What. She's also busy planning for other shows, including The Nashville Monologues (Oct. 30-Nov. 7), for which she is compiling material about the dark side of diversity, culled from public submissions. In April of next year, Rhubarb presents another Crist original, Potty Talk, offering a unique slant on female behavior. Meanwhile, the company will be scouring for new scripts or directorial proposals to fill a July 2010 schedule slot.
So then, what about What? As an entry in the short-attention-span-theater game, it certainly measures up, with Crist crafting 20 different, sometimes interconnected, scenes, some of them practically momentary in length. The inspiration for the subject matter comes from everyday life, as a cast of five contemporaries—Megan Murphy, Jack E. Chambers, Chris Basso, Dave Shetler and the author—comes and goes in a basic apartment setting. Crist's nod to the "it's about nothing" approach that defined Seinfeld is obvious—folks just hanging out and talking—but while there's certainly a good deal of humor in the vignettes, some very serious subjects also get explored, though usually only to a tantalizing point.
Lighter situations depicted include a game of "truth or dare," a collaborative songwriter session, an Xbox freak catching his girlfriend off-guard with a marriage proposal, plus a series of running gags concerning a mystery cat whose vacationing owner's friends make daily visits for feeding time.
When things turn rawer, we get an emotional encounter between brother and sister that leads to the brink of an unpleasant discussion about a pedophile uncle; a young man who inadvertently admits he's cheated on his significant other; and a presumably gay man who announces that he's getting married, presumably to a woman.
These edgier scenes are rather effective, and we receive all the dicey information we need to fill in the blanks. On balance, the dialogue throughout is strongly natural, with only occasional forays into self-consciousness or, by Act 2, a sense of sameness with the comic setups.
Structurally, Crist may be riffing off the recent sketch-comedy works of Robert O'Connell and GroundWorks Theatre (with whom she's appeared in several shows). But the random, slice-of-life themes here certainly lend themselves to wholly original ideas and characters.
All of the performances bespeak professionalism, with ensemble members comfortably inhabiting their multiple roles. The direction is a group effort, the results reading all of a seamless piece, with clean if usually undemanding blocking.
On a technical note, Shane Caudill's lights might've lent more intimacy to the evening. Often his schemes bleed well into the audience, potentially distracting theatergoers by taking the focus off the players. Otherwise, the show's got an efficiently attractive if generic set, courtesy of Richard Sparkman, and scenes are neatly connected by both familiar pop tunes and acoustic guitar licks by Chambers.
What is what it is. Which is entertaining for the most part, and on occasion, genuinely thought-provoking.
Email arts@nashvillescene.com.
Comments (0)