You see, there’s Lisa Kron—a playwright—who’s trying valiantly to tell folks about her battles with illness and wellness, but her Mom is right there in the room beside her. Problem is Mom’s recollections don’t always match those of Lisa, especially as Mom has had her own difficulties with those same two topics. And more, too. “What is that thing about being around your parents that makes you act like a 13-year-old?'' Lisa asks. Anyone older than the age of 13 will readily recognize her plaintive cry.
In a true coup for the Cleveland Play House, Artistic Director Michael Bloom (who also directed this production) was able to get the rights for Well—the first regional theater in the country to do so. Well almost simultaneously began previews on Broadway, having had a short run at New York's Public Theater in 2004. It was named “one of the 10 best plays of the year” by the New York Times and others. Also, for the first time, the playwright is not playing the lead role: she’s busy with the NY production in which she does play herself.
Ms. Kron calls this ‘a solo show with other people’ and these other people, including her mother, keep interrupting her as she struggles to make sense out of her story. Growing up in Lansing, Michigan in the 1970s with an activist Mom who believes firmly in racial integration as the solution to a lot of the world’s problems doesn’t necessarily blend with a private world of illness and allergies and other aggravations, mainly just being a teen-aged girl.
The play is fragmented, which is both logical and illogical at the same time. The set exhibits the same sort of schizophrenia: half is the somewhat cluttered, comfy-shabby living room inhabited by Mom, the other half is blank, but readily turned into a hospital ward or back yard as required by the play’s action. On occasion, Alicia Roper as Lisa comes down to the front of the stage for a more intimate confab with the audience. Mom (native Clevelander Denny Dillon) can still hear, however. And still kibitz, which she does in a hilarious manner.
Generally speaking, I believe Mom has the funniest lines. But Mom has more problems, too. It’s Mom who had the allergies in the first place, and Mom who fought the integration battles that led to healing her neighborhood. Unfortunately, Mom wasn’t able to heal herself at the same time. Lisa, however, went off to a big hospital in Chicago, and as a result of the treatment is now well. There are hints of psychosomatic illness, but the cause or effect remain ever elusive.
Well is a challenge to the theater-goer. In many ways, it is a farce, but there are moments of tenderness and frustration—and truth—mixed in with the hilarity. The actors pop into and out of the characters they portray, which is, at times, confusing. The ensemble consists of three local actors from the CASE/CPH MFA program: Jason Miller, Lelund Durond Thompson and Bailey Varness, (who nearly runs away with the show with her edgy, in-your-face, bratty teen-next-door role, constantly resurfacing in Lisa’s past) and Zandy Hartig.
Michael Raiford’s scenic design works very well, although the beginning of the play does make one wonder what happened to the rest of it! Jennifer Caprio gets the various eras and settings down pat with the costumes, especially the one for Mom. Lighting by David Nancarrow and sound by James C. Swonger vividly enhance the production.
Pacing was a tad out of synch on opening night, but that should have worked itself out with another few performances. There are so many layers here that you might want to see it more than once, in order to discover them all for yourself. If you were around during the 70s, it may have even more meaning for you.
Well runs through March 26, in the Drury Theatre. For tickets or information, call (216) 795-7000 or visit the web-site: http://www.ClevelandPlayhouse.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net (:divend:)