[NEohioPAL] Review of Dobama Theatre's "A Bright New Boise"

[Bob Abelman]

Rapture in Aisle 1 at Dobama's 'A Bright New Boise'

 

Bob Abelman

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

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 11/2/12

                                                    

 

Seeing Dobama Theatre's regional premiere production of Samuel D. Hunter's "A Bright New Boise" is like stepping into Edward Hopper's iconic 1942 painting, "Nighthawks."   

 

Replacing Hopper's oil-based rendering of a late-night diner and its lonely inhabitants as seen from a dark and desolate downtown street corner is Connie Hecker's intriguing construction of a bleak break room in a big-box Idaho crafts store.  

 

The same dreary ordinariness that covers the canvas fills this stage.  Flickering low-hung fluorescent bulbs illuminate but shed no light on the assortment of lost souls who occupy these spaces.  Both seem to pulsate with numbing monotony, creating the impression that time painstakingly passes one meaningless moment after another.  

 

On the surface, "A Bright New Boise" appears to be telling a simple, two-dimensional story as well.  Will, a disgraced Evangelical, has fled his rural hometown for Boise.  There he seeks employment in the depressing Hobby Lobby craft store for $7.25 per hour so he can establish a relationship with fellow employee Alex, an emotionally damaged teenager and the son Will gave up for adoption as a baby.  

 

As this play unfolds, it reveals the playwright's aptitude for dark comedy, his remarkable capacity to capture in words the intense desperation of human suffering, and the many layers of complexity he hides just below its surface.  Director Nathan Motta digs deep and uncovers everything. 

 

We discover that all of the pathetic but very personable co-workers that occupy this play are damaged goods who frantically cling onto the one thing that gives their life meaning.

 

Alex, given stunning dysfunction by Andrew Deike, uses music as a salve for the deep wounds his abandonment has inflicted.  Anna, portrayed with endearing and quirky charm by Kim Krane, is void of self-worth and constantly reads books about women worse off than she is.  Kristy Kruz is hilarious as Pauline, the socially inept and verbally inappropriate store supervisor whose life is her work.  Brian Devers is wonderful as Leroy, Alex's protective half-brother whose aggressive impulses bear the weight of his incredible insecurity.

 

Will is played with paralyzing vulnerability by Tom Woodward, a characteristic Woodward has effectively displayed in previous Dobama productions but never with this degree of authenticity.  Will is a reluctant, unassuming Everyman hero capable of healing and even rescuing the broken, plagued people around him.   By doing so, he could shed some of the guilt he carries from the past indiscretions he is very hesitant to discuss.  Standing in his way is the one thing he clings onto for dear life: the apocalyptic death he has been promised by his faith.

 

"A Bright New Boise" is not easy.  Much of it-perhaps too much-is left to the audience's imagination, as is the case with Hopper's painting.  The play makes allusions to religious fanaticism and the inertia of corporate culture, but never really follows up. The play raises weighty existential questions but simply ends the way it began-with a resounding "Now, now, now" prayer for deliverance, chanted by Will, in the Hobby Lobby parking lot amidst the sounds of highway traffic.  Thy Will be done?  Hard to tell.

 

When the dust clears, one thing is very apparent: the superb acting and spot-on direction carries this thought-provoking play and makes everything about it engrossing.

 

"A Bright New Boise" continues through November 18 at the Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $26, call 216-932-3396 or visit www.dobama.org.

 
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