The Brick House is a comfy, little space nestled into Mad Planet area of Riverwest. There’s a quaint, little reading taking place there this weekend. Local playwright Deanna Strassse is staging a fun, little reading of her supernatural comedy Boo. An enjoyable cast settles in front of a set of music stands in a dimly-lit room as sunlight from early summer slowly drains from the sky outside. There’s a snuggly, little bar in the far corner with a couple of beers on tap and a few other drinks. The casual immediacy of the comedy asserts itself as the story begins to settle-in. Amanda Schumache lends a warm and welcoming presence to the proceedings as the narrator for the reading, which runs 90 minutes without intermission. She establishes the setting: a hotel in Boston in which a group of paranormal investigators look to explore for the sake of their online viewers. Melody Lopac is generously endearing as Alex--the charming ghost-hunter who draws-in viewers for Kai--the more serious paranormal explorer whose expertise drives the show. Alex and Kai are accompanied by a crew that includes a skittish video editor (Lauren Heinen) and a curmudgeonly videographer (David Parr.) The team tumbles into its place in an otherwise closed hotel. No one else is staying there, but there IS a rather cheery midwestern woman (played with unsettlingly happy energy by Mary Ferwerda) who works the hotel looking to help Alex and Kai in whatever way she can. There’s something strange about her, though. Strasse’s script plays with some grace as it fumbles around establishing the basic parameters of the world that she’s engaging in. Is it really a place occupied by ghosts or is it all entirely surface-level realism? There IS a plot twist that develops in the course of the story, but it mgiht not necessarily be one everyone’s expecting. The drama at the heart of all of the comedy IS enjoyable enough to keep everything moving. There’s just enough variation in the cast to maintain a balance of comedy without overloading the script. Every character in the cast is clearly defined and there’s more than enough for every actor to play with in the course of what turns out to be a thoroughly enjoyable show. Strasse continues to show a great talent for constructing a fun, little ensemble of comedic characters and juggling them in a variety of different ways that manage to ricochet off each other in just the right way to form themselves into a cohesive plot. Deanna Strasse’s staged reading of Boo has two more performances: today, June 8th at 7:30 pm and Sunday, June 9th at 2:30 pm at the Brick House on 504 E. Center St. For ticket reservations and more, visit the show’s Facebook Events Page.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Russ BickerstaffArchives
October 2024
Categories |