The Complex Gravity of Human Connection

Rebecca Kent and Tyler Cruz in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Cardboard Piano” by Hansol Jung. Photo by Ross Zentner.

A pair of young women share an intimate moment with a tape recorder. A stranger enters. Drama unfolds on the small stage as Renaissance Theaterworks presents playwright Hansol Jung’s Cardboard Piano. Talented director Elyse Edelman conducts a cast of great emotional depth in a story of love, tragedy and so much more. Tyler Cruz and Rebecca Kent are deeply engaging as a pair of women who have fallen in love in war-torn Uganda. They have decided to marry on New Year’s Eve, 1999. 

Cruz and Kent have developed a strong connection through the long and winding embrace of Jung’s script. There’s a beautifully radiant inquisitiveness about Cruz in the role of Adiel. The framing of the script requires her to render a deeply complicated and emotionally engaging character in a very brief period of time onstage. Cruz navigates gracefully through the nuanced and textured romance with great poise. Kent is given a bit more freedom to explore that full complexity of Chris--the woman she is in love with who is also in love with her. Kent moves through a witty tenderness in the role of Chris. 
The script requires her to carry a great amount of weight beyond the dialogue that suggests a very deep emotional center. That’s not easy to do without over-amplifying everything, but Kent does a brilliant job of making everything connect onstage between Adiel and Chris and the wounded soldier who happens in on the two of them with the tape recorder. 

Ethan Hightire conjures an intriguingly calm desperation about him in the role of Pika--the wounded soldier who finds himself in the company of the two women on the night in question. Pika’s quite forthcoming about the reason why he’s there. He is overcome with guilt over those things that the military has made hime doe. Hightire acquires a very textured emotional gravity as Pika navigates the strange circumstantial presence of those strangers. 

Some of the strongest magic that a small stage can offer is an exploration into the connection between two people. In Cardboard Piano, those people are dealing with a great deal of complexity on the edge of the 1990s as the world beyond them continues to evolve. The sudden appearance of the soldier introduces a powerful contrast to their love in the form of someone lost in societal cycles of evidently eternal aggression. It’s very powerful drama for the dawn of a whole new year as things continue to look more and more progressively bleak every day in the news. Somewhere in the midst of it all, there’s a glimmer of hope that makes Cardboard Piano strikingly powerful.

Dimonte Henning makes a notably complex appearance in the role of a pastor named Paul. He's quite charming in the role at first. Then certain revelations hit and the real complexity of the role becomes apparent. There's a tremendous weight about his performance that reveals a profound complexity resting at the heart of a very satisfying and provocative drama.

Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of Cardboard Piano runs Jan. 11 - Feb. 1 at the theatre on 255 S, Water St. For ticket reservations and more, visit Renaissance online.
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