This play is another I read for a company’s season audition. It was written by Shari White and is quite good.

The play is a memory play and is meant to begin with very little set, mostly lights and empty space. There are two fixed characters, Juliana and Ian, and two actors, one male and female, who play several other characters. The play makes beautiful use of an unreliable narrator.

Juliana is a medical researcher . She is telling the story of what happened to her at a convention where she is unveiling a new drug she has developed.There is a bit of a problem in her reminiscence as it seems that a couple of other memories keep intruding, an argument with her husband Ian, and a very fractured Dr.’s appointment. We feel very much for Juliana and sympathize with her. The text begins to create a terrible sense of unease. She receives a call from her estranged  daughter’s husband, a former colleague, and her daughter. Her husband seems hell bent on sabotaging her at every turn, whether in trying to repair relations with her daughter, or helping her negotiate with the doctor she is seeing. She begins to fear that her husband is having an affair with her doctor.

After this wash of kaleidoscope events, the play presents an explosion of heart wrenching exposition and redirection. Things are not as we have been told and we must reassess the entire play, the characters, and their motivations. The staging at this point is meant to focus on one pivotal scene, which it is meant to be played very realistically, eschewing the dreamlike quality.

The play is an emotionally intense one. I like it quite a bit. I don’t think the double casting of the other roles, the woman’s in particular, is necessary. It helps only marginally in that it sets up the disjointed, impressionistic, and theatrical qualities of the beginning. It could also be done to make producing the play easier, having a smaller cast often does. I think, however that having the same person play the Dr., the daughter, and the strange woman, blurs the effectiveness of each.

I’d love to play Ian. Read this if get a chance.

I read this play in preparation for an audition. I am not that fond of it. It is by an award winning playwright named Will Eno. It was nominated for an award itself, the 2011 Outer Critic’s Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. It did not win. It is about confronting death.
It is essentially a one man show. A guy named Guy sits in a wheelchair. He is old.He is nearing the end. He is in some kind of hospice care. He has prepared a slide show for the audience punctuated by sound effects that seem to not be in his control. The play is very “meta” and self referential. It is delivered in a direct audience address. He keeps losing his place and being distracted by his ruminations, referring to index cards that he has in his pocket to keep on message. 
Three quarters of the way through the play a caretaker, Lisa, shows up. She and he have some conversation. She is unaware of the audience. His asides are part of his dying allusions to her. She leaves and the play end with an extended video and light show meant to emulate the end of a rock show. There is also supposed to be wake-like post lobby treats and and signage meant to allow the audience to process and discuss the play. Stress balls and wrist bands are suggested gifts to the audience.
The play, while displaying an amusing turn of phrase here and there, did not impress me. Much of the text is in that Andy Rooney "aren't-memories-kooky-and-meaningful" style, glib and canned. I found it gimmicky and lacking events, or even ideas, really. It wants to come off and as a eulogy for an unknown man. A self-eulogy, at that. it's trying too hard. 

Prelude To a Kiss
Well, I’m finally adding to my Blog. I feel like such an idiot for taking literally years to get to this.
I have decided to continue and be less rigorous in my goals but more diligent in my execution. I’m going to aim for one (1) play a week. Read and written about. The writing seems to be the hard part for me. I have read a lot of plays but actually buckling down and writing about them seems to be a problem. Writing the synopsis is where my difficultly lay. I’m going to try to be more succinct.
So off we go with Prelude to a Kiss, by Craig Lucas. Mr. Lucas is a playwright I like a lot. He’s smart, witty, and sentimental without being cheap or saccharine. He wrote one of my favorite movies, Longtime Companion, which you should see if you haven’t. Prelude To a Kiss is about love. It makes one want to be in love, as all really good stories of love should. It’s the story of Peter and Rita, who meet at a mutual acquaintance's party and each fall madly in love with each other. They share their stories and get married. That’s basically it.
But wait, you say, is there no conflict? No obstacle to their love? Well, yes there is and Mr. Lucas performs a minor miracle in presenting it. At their wedding, an unknown old man joins in the celebration and upon kissing the bride for luck, switches consciousness with her. Rita is now in his body and he in hers. This is a simple and time honored plot device which Mr. Lucas uses beautifully. The device serves as an elegant and affecting symbol of AIDS, in the idea of suddenly finding one's  young and vibrant lover in an decaying, disease-ridden body.
Yet. Mr. Lucas does not stop there. He also skillfully ruminates upon the fears of old age, loss, impending death, and how well we know those we love or are supposed to love. I very much enjoy this play. It works on multiple levels. It could play as a light romantic comedy, full of spry,charming, and funny dialogue. However, if you want to dig in and analyze it for deeper meaning, it has it in spades.