Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Working through grief and loss: Doménica Feraud’s SOMEONE SPECTACULAR and John Collins’ IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

• By drediman
• August 14, 2024
• No Comments

This past weekend, I came across a pair of Off-Broadway plays that portrayed characters working through grief and loss — a topic that’s likely to strike a chord in many of us. As per usual, read on for my thoughts on these two new works.

SOMEONE SPECTACULAR
Pershing Square Signature Center
Through September 7

Over at Pershing Square Signature Center, you’ll find Doménica Feraud’s fine new play Someone Spectacular (RECOMMENDED), where it has settled in for a lengthy summer run (the production has just been extended through September 7). The epitome of an ensemble-driven play, the work in essence depicts a group therapy session for those coping with loss. At the top of the play, the decidedly motley crew decides to go rogue and self-run itself after its moderator mysteriously goes missing. With each member at various stages of processing the passing of a loved one, it’s no surprise that forceful emotions — namely feelings of intense anger and/or disorientation — quickly bubble to the surface, knottily work themselves out in a mostly naturalistic play that unfolds largely in real time. That being said, there are occasional touches of expressionism — subtly manifested by director Tatiana Pandiani’s observant staging (kudos also to her excellent design team) — that tap into a wider sense of anxiety prevalent during these post-pandemic times (at the performance I attended, many in the audience were clearly moved by the play). The fine ensemble cast does well to distinguish their respective character’s thoughts and motivations — in cases a bit too pointedly, but that’s neither here nor there — while seamlessly working in tandem as a company. Together, they deliver on the cathartic final sentiment that only with each other’s care and empathy can we get through individual bouts of grief.

IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
SoHo Playhouse
Closed

Then down at SoHo Playhouse, I caught the final performance of It’s Not What It Looks Like (RECOMMENDED) by John Collins (who also stars in the piece). The new play is the winner of SoHo Playhouse’s 2023 Lighthouse Series, a new play initiative that seeks to champion emerging voices in American playwriting (perhaps the most notable recent winner is Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job, which transferred to Broadway this summer after a number of very successful Off-Broadway engagements). The two-hander begins shockingly with “M” and “W” — cousins and devoted partners in crime — covered in blood, begging the question — how did they end up there? With that jarring opener, the play rewinds and launches into a series of fluid and vividly-written scenes that uncover the labyrinthine path leading to that climactic moment. Having recently endured loss and trauma, we witness both M and W retaliate in their own self-destructive ways — e.g., late nights partying at clubs, heavy drinking and drug usage, other such delinquent behavior — as they work their way towards their opening precarious predicament. Even if the play’s punchline isn’t quite as thought provoking as all the hype and suspense have led you to believe (no spoilers here), there’s no arguing the magnetism of Collins and Cheney Mitchell’s performances as M and W. Both fine young actors, they fearlessly basked in the characters’ instability and fragile psyches. As directed by Vincent DeGeorge on practically a bare stage (the only scenic elements were a projection screen, a bench, and two red chairs), the piece unspooled with a fantastic sense of pace, all the while fully embracing the dark humor and heightened instability that permeates the piece.