[NEohioPAL] Review of "Eat" at FPAC

[Bob Abelman]

Fairmount's filling message with 'Eat' is for select crowd

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 4/30/10

 

In the 1970s, the three television networks aired a series of late-afternoon, public service-oriented made-for-TV movies.  These "after-school specials" dealt with controversial and socially relevant issues, and were targeted at teenagers.  While not great entertainment, they each had an important message to relay.

 

Eat (It's Not About Food), presented by the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory (FPAC) at the Mayfield Village Civic Center, is the equivalent of those "after-school specials."    

 

The play is a research-based, fictional story that places a spotlight on a hidden malady facing today's teens: eating disorders.  Playwright Linda Daugherty gives a face to anorexia, bulimia and purging, and that face is young, innocent and tortured.

 

Using a series of interwoven vignettes and a large ensemble cast, Eat explores the causes and warning signs of eating disorders and takes a hard, sober look at this epidemic's impact.  As a play with a clearly defined and overriding significance, Eat  offers a heavy dose of dramatic dialogue, facts and statistics in lieu of exposition.  While not great entertainment, it has an important message to relay.

 

Intent on increasing awareness of eating disorders, FPAC follows every performance with a post-play talk-back facilitated by a medical specialist. Schools throughout Northeast Ohio have the opportunity to bring the production to their campuses as part of their health education programs.  

 

Clearly, Eat is not the right choice for those looking for a fun evening out at the theater.  

 

Nor is it the kind of theater that draws teenagers, unless they are coerced by a parent or the play is prescribed by a health care professional. 

 

No, Eat is a message play pure and simple, and there is a limited audience for this type of thing.  It is, however, a superbly produced message play.

 

In the capable hands of director Fred Sternfeld, even this one-act public service announcement is beautifully staged, well cast and professionally executed.  Sternfeld finds the humanity in the information-heavy scenes played out in each vignette and devises clever, fluid transitions from one vignette to the next.  For a play without much story, some very effective storytelling occurs on stage. 

 

Sternfeld's vision is given form by a talented cast of adult, teen and tween actors.  Alexis Floyd's performance as Amy, the featured anorexic whose downward spiral and struggle to recover is central to the play, is absolutely riveting.  She is surrounded by other teenagers who take their broadly painted characters and turn them into very realistic, very honest portrayals.  They are Meghan Grover, Dylan White, Stephanie Wong, Jordan Brown, Sean Cahill and Lil Stebner. 

 

Nina Domingue, Amy Pawlukiewicz, Juliette Regnier and Doug Kusak play an assortment of vaguely constructed adult characters, and manage to bring them to life.  Regnier is particularly interesting as a calorie-conscious coffee drinker and an aging, long-suffering ballet dancer, as is Pawlukiewicz as the generic TV actress whose guiding philosophy is "thin is not just in, it is imperative." 

  

Although functional, scenic designer Ben Needham's ramp-rampant set, psychedelic color scheme and perpetually dramatic lighting add to the dated, stagey "after-school special" feel of the play.  

 

Eat  will not be playing to full houses due to its subject matter and educational mission, making it an odd choice for a new, professional theater company looking to establish itself in the community.  Still, if this production serves as a forum for discovery or discussion for anyone afflicted by an eating disorder, then it is certainly serving a higher purpose and needs to be applauded for doing so.

 

 Eat:  It's Not About Food continues through May 2 at the Mayfield Village Civic Center, 6622 Wilson Mills Road in Mayfield Village.  For tickets, which are $10 to $15 for Thursday to Sunday performances, call 440-782-4087.

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