RVArt Review

A Brand New Family Dramedy – or – This is That Play

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

Presented by: Cadence Theatre and Virginia Rep

At: Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse, 600 E. Grace Street, RVA 23219

Performances: March 9-19, 2023

Ticket Prices: $13 – $43

Info: Tickets are sold by Dominion Energy Center, (800) 514-3849 or https://www.dominionenergycenter.com/events/detail/cross-stitch-bandits

Where to begin? Let’s start with the obvious. I was very impressed with Faith Carlson’s set design for CROSS STITCH BANDITS. The performing area of the Gottwald Playhouse was transformed into a reasonable facsimile of a house – not just an apartment or living space, but a house. While we could see a small kitchen, dining area, living room, and craft space, there were also stairs to the upper floor, a hallway to the rest of the main floor, and part of a backyard with a small refrigerator, a couple of folding chairs, and a weed whacker abandoned on a strip of artificial grass. Later another piece of turf was temporarily laid out as part of one of the play’s most hilarious scenes – the scene that gives the play its title.

Why so much detail on this show’s set? Because it is indicative of the level of detail that went into this production. The details are part of what made this story so enjoyable. CROSS STITCH BANDITS is the story of David, a “retired” engineer, whose family has planned a surprise retirement party for him. Here’s where it gets dicey, because it’s hard to talk about the significant scenes without revealing the spoilers, so if something doesn’t make sense from here on out, you’ll just have to go see it for yourself to fill in the blanks.

What I can safely say is that David is a likeable guy who places family first, but his stressful (perfectionist? OCD? Controlling?) tendencies tend to throw a monkey wrench into absolutely everything he touches and unnecessarily complicate all his relationships. Usually, we are taught to avoid hyperbole, but it applies to David. Nothing is safe from his need to have everything in its place, whether a dirty glass or an adult child. David’s wife, Jeanne, an affable woman with a mediator’s personality, is a Vice Principal who crochets to relieve the stress of her job. Their daughter Kaija, a recent law school graduate, is awaiting the results of the bar exam, and their son Drew has ditched college for a career as a magician. Drew has been placed in charge of his father’s retirement party, which has some unexpected props to support it’s off-beat theme as the family gathers to bid a final farewell to “Work Dave.” The theme actually developed from a real-life anecdote in the playwrights’ lives.

I enjoyed the interactions between the characters. Otto Konrad as David and Dorothy “Dee-D.” Miller felt authentic as a long-married and loving couple that has settled into a comfortable routine. Cross Stitch Bandits introduces them at the point of a bump in the road, a temporary detour. Tatjana Shields, the daughter, seems to be holding onto a secret – one she eventually reveals. Cyrus Mooney as Drew is the hardest character to get to know. He has quirky gestures and body language, and I was never sure if these characteristics were because Drew the character was a magician who was always “on” or if it was because Mooney the actor was still exploring his character, trying on speech and movement patterns for size. It could be a bit of both.

I found it interesting that David and Jeanne were partners in an interracial marriage only to have Konrad reveal in a talkback after Sunday afternoon’s matinee that the authors had described his character as 61 years old and “anything but white.” Ethnicity is never addressed in the play, yet the visual evidence is undeniable, and the children have been equitably cast with a white presenting son and a black presenting daughter. This seems to make no difference in the development of the story, yet even silent representation matters. Who, I wonder, did the authors see playing these roles. . .

The family issues presented by new playwrights Sanam Laila Hashemi and Steven Burneson (a soon-to-be married couple in real life) are relatable and universal. When we laugh at David and Jeanna, or David and Drew’s zany nighttime adventure, we are laughing at ourselves, at our own families. I think that also makes any imperfections, inconsistencies, and unanswered questions easier to accept – they are ours and we own them.

What imperfections, inconsistencies, and unanswered questions you ask? Well, if David is an engineer, why does he have a malfunctioning weed whacker and refrigerator? In one scene, Drew takes out a bowl and spoon to get some ice cream, but finds the ice cream has melted, so he exchanges his bowl for a glass. What happened to the refrigerator? We see David pour some of spilled ashes from his late father’s urn into the nonfunctional weed whacker. What was his motivation? Was it to honor the memory of his father who once fixed the broken things or was it a symbolic act to add dust to dust, ashes to ashes, or something else entirely? Drew entered a major magician’s competition – did he win, or even place?

Shields explained during the talkback that in the script Drew is 31 years old and Kaija is the younger sister, but because in real life she is older, they switched ages onstage. Why does that matter? You’re both acting, and how does the audience know or why should we care about your real ages?

There is a fifth character, friend and neighbor Neil, played by Landon Nagel. There is controversy surrounding Neil as well. A former prodigy of the controlling David, over time their roles have switched, but again, I can’t tell you too much about it without revealing more spoilers. Suffice it to say that under the mentorship of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and Cadence’s Pipeline New Works Fellowship Program, Hashemi and Burneson have successfully brought a new story to life onstage. All things work together for good, including the work of scenic designer Faith Carlson, costume designer Sarah Grady, lighting designer Weston Corey, and sound designer Joey Luck. Kudos, also, to director Sharon Ott for, in the words of Konrad, letting the story tell itself.

NOTE: A few friends and I spent some time talking about the title, CROSS STITCH BANDITS. Jeanne is a crocheter, and we concluded that cross stitch and crochet are mutually exclusive. However, a bit of research revealed that there is, in fact, a crochet stitch called a cross stitch or single cross stitch. So there you have it. And CROSS STITCH BANDIT has a much better ring than Crochet Bandit.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

CROSS STITCH BANDITS

A World Premiere

Written by Sanam Laila Hashemi and Steven Burneson

Directed by Sharon Ott

Cross Stitch Bandits was conceived and developed through Cadence’s Pipeline New Works Fellowship Program

CAST

David                                       Otto Konrad

Jeanna                                     Dorothy “Dee-D.” Miller

Drew                                       Cyrus Mooney

Neil                                          Landon Nagel

Kaija                                        Tatjana Shields

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director                                   Sharon Ott

Assistant Director               Molly Marsh

Scenic Designer                    Faith Carlson

Costume Designer               Sarah Grady

Lighting Designer                Weston Corey

Sound Designer                    Joey Luck

Properties Designer            Ellie Wilder

Technical Directors            Becka Russo and Vinnie Gonzalez

Set Dressing                           Faith Carlson

Production/Stage Manager    Shawanna Hall

Photos                                     Jay Paul

SETTING AND TIME:

2010, somewhere in a small city in the US

RUN TIME:

Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission

A Shelter; A Refuge; A Place of Healing

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: Richmond Triangle Players at the Robert B. Moss Theatre, 1300 Altamont Ave, RVA 23230

Performances: August 3 – September 17, 2022

Ticket Prices: $35 -$40; $10 for Students.

Info: (804) 346-8113 or rtriangle.org

Inheritance: the acquisition of a possession, condition, or trait from past generations

Matthew López’s epic play, The Inheritance, is nearly seven hours long and runs over two nights. It is presented in two parts, each containing three acts and two intermissions. But that is not the only thing about it that is remarkable. The Inheritance is a story about telling a story, and wise, the audience, have the pleasure of witnessing how this story is crafted. It’s not linear and it certainly isn’t pretty. The storytellers are a community of ten young gay men, living in New York City in the decades after the AIDS epidemic.

Further, it is a multi-generational story, under the guidance and mentorship of one older character (real-life author E.M. Forster/fictional character Walter Poole) played by William Vaughn, a recent Richmond transplant from NYC. There is also an older love interest, millionaire real estate developer Henry Wilcox, played with frustratingly rational conservatism by Eddie Webster. The Young Men (identified in the program by number, although they do have names during the play), are, in turn, a bridge to the next generation.  Ironically, the two younger gay men representing the next generation are played by a single actor, Lukas D’Errico, a rising junior in the Theatre Department at VCU. D’Errico, as Adam, is the recipient of a tangible inheritance, in the form of fame and fortune, while as Leo, a homeless sex worker, he is the recipient of a spiritual inheritance. One of the more stunning moments of a play that is not lacking in spectacle occurs when D’Errico has to portray a life-changing chance meeting and conversation between his two characters. Kudos to D’Errico and director Lucien Restivo for this.

For those who may be interested, there are many comments both negative and positive, comparing The Inheritance with novelist E.M. Forster’s book Howard’s End and playwright Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. Forster’s novel Maurice, a tale of gay love is also prominently featured in The Inheritance. But I’m not focusing on literary comparisons – especially not with books I have not read. I am, however, fascinated with, entertained by, and enamored of  this story, written for these times, by this playwright – and his collaborating characters – played by this cast, under the direction of this director. And the bottom line for me is The Inheritance is a damned good story that left me and just about the entire audience weeping at the end of Part 2. It is one of those theatrical experiences that ends with an extended moment of silence because applause doesn’t quite seem appropriate.

Deejay Gray (narcissistic writer Toby Darling) and Adam Turck (kind-hearted, cultured activist Eric Glass) lead the cast of friends as a couple living an apparently wonderful life in a rent controlled apartment that has been in his family for three generations. [As a transplanted New Yorker of a certain age, I cannot assume that everyone knows what a rent controlled apartment is; it is one protected by an old law that prevented the rent from being raised to market rate, resulting in often elderly people paying rent less than half the going rate. No one EVER moved from a rent controlled apartment. Never. Ever. I had an uncle and aunt who lived in a rent controlled apartment in the Bronx who were paying $65 at a time when most people in their building were paying about $500.]

But, getting back to The Inheritance, things start to fall apart in the Darling/Glass household when Toby rises to success as an author and playwright. The pressure of success forces the fragile threads holding Toby’s past at bay to completely unravel. But the focus is not just on Eric and Toby. There are sometimes subliminal references to current events and to gay culture: the antiviral drug Truvada; gay bars; shared culture/appropriated culture (e.g., the assimilation of “yass qween”); trans youth; and “vengeful, murderous fanatics.”

Politically, The Inheritance is set during the time Obama was President of the United States and Clinton/Trump election was on the horizon. Tristan (Dwight Merritt), a Black, gay physician, plans to Emigrate to Canada. Eric is a liberal activist, while Henry is a closeted Republican – a family and household dynamic that became all too familiar to many in recent years.

Intellectually, some might find some of the characters and some of the conversation elitist and entitled. Tristan’s conversation is impassioned, logical, scientific, and generally intellectual; Eric invites Henry to a German Expressionist show at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), but these conversations and activities have a ring of authenticity and familiarity because they could have been recorded from my circle when I lived in Brooklyn in my thirties. Eric warns Henry that the show is four hours long, but has two intermissions and Part 1 ends with a prophetic meeting between Eric and the ghosts of his deceased mentor Walter’s friends. “Welcome home, Eric.”

“Your parents didn’t abandon you. They fled from you like the disease that you are.”   -Eric to Toby

We returned a week later to see Part 2. The intensity seemed to have been ramped up, as well as the urgency. During Part 1 I had almost dismissed Deejay Gray’s portrayal of Toby Darling as just Gray being themself, but in Part 2 as Toby descended in a world of sex, drugs, and alcohol – in a failed attempt to self-medicate and compensate for a horrible childhood – Gray’s acting skills appeared to ascend exponentially, and I was no longer watching Deejay Gray playing at acting but Toby Darling attempting to metaphorically self-immolate during a summer on Fire Island. There are more contemporary and local geographical references: the night Toby disappeared, he took the Acela (Amtrak express train) to Richmond, rented a car and drove to his childhood home in Alabama.

On the night we saw Part 2, many of the actors seemed to stumble over their lines during the first act of the evening, but by the second act they appeared to find their rhythm, and Part 2 was more powerful and emotionally moving than Part 1. At the end, Eric has finally found and accepted his calling. At the end, The Inheritance is not money or a house, but a shelter, a refuge, a place of healing. At the end, The Inheritance is not a prodigal son scrambling to claim what’s his, but a communal inheritance, and even though we’ve been given clues leading up to the final scene, it still strikes us as a surprise, because López, and Restivo, and this cast guided us to suspend our belief and take this journey with them, as good theatre should.

I absolutely loved Frank Foster’s impressive, multi-leveled library set. It was dark from wood stained by history and ghosts and perfectly manifested the private library of a book-lover’s dreams. Lucian Restivo’s sound design was subtle, but when you did notice it, it was personal and dramatic and timely. Raja Benz, the intimacy choreographer, handled the sex scenes with a boldness that was more raw than intimate, in stark contrast to the subtlety of Restivo’s sound design. Taken all together, the cast and creative team created something that felt like family, with its ups and downs, betrayals and recoveries, pain and healing. In short, it is a memorable theatrical experience that is well worth your time.

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Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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THE INHERITANCE:

An Epic Achievement Generations in the Making

Inspired by the novel Howard’s End by E.M. Forster

Written by Matthew López

Directed by Lucien Restivo

CAST:

Young Man 3 ……………………………………………………..     Kasey Britt

Young Man 1 ……………………………………………………..     Lukas D’Errico

Young Man 5 ……………………………………………………..     Keegan Ferrell

Young Man 10 / Toby Darling …………………………….    Deejay Gray

Young Man 8 ……………………………………………………..     Kevin Kemler

Young Man 7 ………………………………………..…………..      Jacob LeBlanc

Young Man 6 …………………………………..………………..      Dwight Merritt

Margaret ………………………………………..…………………     Boomie Pedersen

Young Man 2 ……………………………………..……………..      TeDarryl Perry

Young Man 9 / Eric Glass ……………………………………     Adam Turck

Young Man 4 ……………………………………………………..     Joshua Tyler

E.M. Forster (“Morgan”) / Walter Poole ……….…..     William Vaughn

Henry Wilcox …………………………………………………..…     Eddie Webster

Understudies

For Young Man 7 and Young Man 9 / Eric Glass  = August Hundley

For Young Man 1 and Young Man 10 / Toby Darling = Keegan Ferrell

For Young Man 2 and Young Man 6 = Joshua Tyler

For Young Man 3, Young Man 4, and Young Man 5 = Brandon Duncan

For Young Man 8 = Kasey Britt

For Margaret = Stephanie Tippi Hart

CREATIVE TEAM:

Scenic Design                                      – Frank Foster

Costume Design                                  – Maggie McGrann

Lighting Design                                   – Michael Jarett

Sound Design                                      – Lucien Restivo

Properties Design                               – Tim Moehring

Intimacy Choreographer                    – Raja Benz

Hair & Make Up Design                      – Luke Newsome

Dialect Coach                                      – Louise Casini Hollis

Technical Director & Scenic Painter   – William Luther

Assistant Stage Manager                    – Christopher Smith

Assistant Director & Dramaturg         – Kendall Walker

Production Stage Manager                – Lauren Langston

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

August 3 – September 17, 2022

Part 1 – Preview August 3, Opening August 5

Part 2 – Preview August 10, Opening August 12

Then alternating

Part 1 August 18, 20, 21, 26, September 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 14

Part 2 August 19, 25, 27, 28, September 2, 3, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17

Note that on September you can see Parts 1 & 2 on the same day.

Note that you must purchase tickets to Part 1 & Part 2 separately.

Promo Videos:

Photo Credits: John MacLellan