Playwright: Jessica Goldberg. At: Poor Theatre at Rivendell, 5779 N. Ridge Ave. Tickets: www.thepoortheatre.org/goodthing; $15. Runs through: Nov. 16
John and Nancy are fortysomething school teachers in upstate New York, their 20-year marriage blighted by childlessness and John's drinking and one-time philandering. Dean and Mary are twentysomething. He's a blue collar guy who might have been more. She's near-term pregnant and a meth addict, as is Dean's kid brother Bobby, who lives with them. When Dean's former girlfriend, Liz, returns to pursue him, she adds fuel to an explosive situation.
It's difficult to fathom the good thing of the play's title in Jessica Goldberg's slice-of-life drama, or if it's meant to be ironic. Mary's pregnancy divides as much as it unites, a trap and yet possibly an opportunity. Liz and Bobby definitely are negative catalysts, while John and Nancy are a sad pair who function only as an extended plot device. The play centers on Dean, who has made easy but not affirmative life choices and has enabled the addition of his wife and brother. In a "lady-or-the-tiger" ending, Dean is forced to choose, at last, between opposing sides and life opportunities.
So there you have six characters with whom you may sympathize but whom you probably won't like very much, playing through a situational structure that's more than a little forced and improbable. But structure aside, Goldberg does what she does best ( she's very much a hot shot playwright andeven moreTV writer ), which is to deliver dialogue sounding like everyday speech but which is sharp, focused, forceful and telling.
In short, Good Thing can be a great vehicle for actors, and several members of this Poor Theatre production give rattling-good performances under director Will Crouse ( Poor Theatre co-artistic director ). Abbey Smith and Michael Medford are electrifying as addicts Mary ( who's kept clean during her pregnancy ) and Bobby. They live and breathe the befuddlement, desperation, volatility and drug fever of the hooked with commitment, focus and ferocious energy which are riveting and sometimes frightening. Medford, who is thin to begin with, is particularly convincing with darkened eyes and meth sores all over his face and arms.
Melonie Gollmann and Doug Scheutz have the opposite problem, and the fault is that of director Crouse. Given dreary characters to begin with, Crouse has directed them in dreary fashion. They move and talk slowly and barely speak above a whisper. Their scenes are so lacking in energy and pace they all but disappear.
Somewhere in between are Alex Fisher and Dillon Kelleher as Liz and Dean. Certainly attractive and more than adequate for their roles, they are affable and capable performers whose dynamics split the difference between the others.
Good Thing is imperfect as a play and production, but is a sufficiently strong calling card for the still-new Poor Theatre.
Good Thing
Playwright: Jessica Goldberg
At: Poor Theatre at Rivendell,
5779 N. Ridge Ave.
Tickets: www.thepoortheatre.org/
goodthing; $15
Runs through: Nov. 16
BY JONATHAN ABARBANEL
John and Nancy are fortysomething school teachers in upstate New York, their 20-year marriage blighted by childlessness and John's drinking and one-time philandering. Dean and Mary are twentysomething. He's a blue collar guy who might have been more. She's near-term pregnant and a meth addict, as is Dean's kid brother Bobby, who lives with them. When Dean's former girlfriend, Liz, returns to pursue him, she adds fuel to an explosive situation.
It's difficult to fathom the good thing of the play's title in Jessica Goldberg's slice-of-life drama, or if it's meant to be ironic. Mary's pregnancy divides as much as it unites, a trap and yet possibly an opportunity. Liz and Bobby definitely are negative catalysts, while John and Nancy are a sad pair who function only as an extended plot device. The play centers on Dean, who has made easy but not affirmative life choices and has enabled the addition of his wife and brother. In a "lady-or-the-tiger" ending, Dean is forced to choose, at last, between opposing sides and life opportunities.
So there you have six characters with whom you may sympathize but whom you probably won't like very much, playing through a situational structure that's more than a little forced and improbable. But structure aside, Goldberg does what she does best ( she's very much a hot shot playwright andeven moreTV writer ), which is to deliver dialogue sounding like everyday speech but which is sharp, focused, forceful and telling.
In short, Good Thing can be a great vehicle for actors, and several members of this Poor Theatre production give rattling-good performances under director Will Crouse ( Poor Theatre co-artistic director ). Abbey Smith and Michael Medford are electrifying as addicts Mary ( who's kept clean during her pregnancy ) and Bobby. They live and breathe the befuddlement, desperation, volatility and drug fever of the hooked with commitment, focus and ferocious energy which are riveting and sometimes frightening. Medford, who is thin to begin with, is particularly convincing with darkened eyes and meth sores all over his face and arms.
Melonie Gollmann and Doug Scheutz have the opposite problem, and the fault is that of director Crouse. Given dreary characters to begin with, Crouse has directed them in dreary fashion. They move and talk slowly and barely speak above a whisper. Their scenes are so lacking in energy and pace they all but disappear.
Somewhere in between are Alex Fisher and Dillon Kelleher as Liz and Dean. Certainly attractive and more than adequate for their roles, they are affable and capable performers whose dynamics split the difference between the others.
Good Thing is imperfect as a play and production, but is a sufficiently strong calling card for the still-new Poor Theatre.