K DANCE PRESENTS SHORTS: Short Plays & Contemporary Dance
A Dance & Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis
At: The Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad St, RVA 23220
Performances: March 28-30, 2019 at 7:30pm & March 30 at 4:00pm
Ticket Prices: $25 general; $15 for RAPT (RVA Theatre Alliance) & Students
Info: (804) 270-4944 or firehousetheatre.org
K Dance’s 2019 production of Shorts, five short plays interwoven with choreography by Kaye Weinstein Gary, challenged performers to express themselves through words and dance and treated the audience to a delightfully diverse evening of performances. Now in its seventh year, the Shorts brand appears to have been refined and enhanced in terms of timing (the program ran just under 90 minutes, including intermission), talent (there were some new faces and bodies onstage and off), and technical aspects (the lighting, sound design, and costuming seemed particularly creative).
Jacqueline Jones directed two of the small plays. “Chicks (Biology Etc. Day 3)” written by Grace McKeany featured Dean Knight as Miss Mary Margaret Phallon (I’m surprised he wasn’t Sister Mary Margaret) as a Kindergarten teacher giving life lessons on wholly inappropriate topics, such as sex and adult deception. The lesson relied on word play that resulted in double entendre and other age-inappropriate pronouncements. Knight, by the way, looked the part in what I’ll call light drag – a simple dress and conservative wig.
Jones also directed one of the more serious scenarios of the program. “Just Before the Drop” written by David-Matthew Barnes, featured Kaye Weinstein Gary and Andrew Etheridge in a weird and strangely touching story about a wife who first meets her husband’s male lover right after the husband has jumped to his death from the roof of a building. The encounter occurs on the roof top after the police and ambulance and nosy neighbors have left, and between the delicate steps of a deadly dance discuss which of them will keep their loved one’s shoes.
Luke Schares and Patrick Rooney contributed perhaps the funniest moments of evening as a pair of cockroach brothers who, along with a lone critic, were the only survivors of an apocalypse that apparently occurred in and around a struggling theater. Surrounded by trash and a gigantic candy bar wrapper, the two wore hilariously accurate cockroach costumes – complete with extra legs and arching antenna – designed by Kylie Clark. Reminiscent of the adults in “Peanuts” cartoons who are represented only be a saxophone sound, the critic was represented by a piggish grunt. (“They were not looking in your direction,” a friend reassured me after the show.) This humorous tale by Jacquelyn Reingold bears the improbable title of “Joe and Stew’s Theatre of Brotherly Love and Financial Success.”
But wait, there’s more. The lovely and lithe Mara Elizbeth Barrett and Tim Herrman warily negotiated the roles of a couple attempting to reunite after some sort of unspecified absence or separation. Andrew Etheredge directed the piece which effortlessly integrated contemporary dance movements into the fabric of the story and speaking of fabric, he also designed the actor/dancers’ patterned bodysuits. This was the one play that left me with unanswered questions. Why did they break up? Why did he come back? Without some background information or additional context, “In Transit,” written by Steve McMahon, was decidedly unfulfilling.
Thankfully, this was not the final play. That honor was saved for “The Closet,” by Aoise Stratford. “The Closet” gave us an inside look at abandoned toys. Etheredge, a gruff-voiced toy dinosaur named Bernard was the senior resident of the closet, along with Twinkles, a simple-minded and somewhat annoying “Tubby” toy names Twinkles, played by Katherine Wright with a vertical red pony tail. (You might want to Google “tubby toys” to get the full effect.) These two abandoned toys were joined by a reluctant Bart Sponge (Round Trousers), played by Dean Knight in a button down shirt and khaki shorts with suspenders. Like every good movie villain, he pleaded his innocence until Bernard/Etheredge pulled a confession out of him – thanks to his cigarette fueled gravelly voice, no doubt.
Even though Shorts is a dance theater experience, like most Richmond dance programs it has a short run (no pun intended) of just a few days, so if you’d like to see it – and I think you should – don’t hesitate but purchase your tickets and go – just do it!
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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Photo Credits: Sarah Ferguson
RVArt Review 