Security 2: Captive, produced on by
the Drilling Company at the 78th Street Theatre Lab, is
perfectly named. People are held captive, in various ways and in
various places, with their sense of security bolstered,
threatened, or upended. The subject, of course, couldn’t be more
timely, with at least two of the playlets in the two act work
focusing on the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina. The action
ranges from the absurd to the almost quotidian. A Gopher in the
Ninth Ward, written by Trish Harnetiaux and directed by Eric
Nightengale, is one of the more deliciously nutty outings. A
chirpy little woman (Carol Scudder) and her husband Frank
(Michael Gnat) have come to the Ninth Ward after the hurricane.
She hopes to win a prize by finding the best area of devastation
against which to photograph the stuffed gopher she’s nicked from
herboss.
The
horrors of the world have ratcheted up Frank’s humanity to
dangerous levels; one day he woke up screaming and couldn’t
stop, so his wife had his vocal cords removed. Even now he
screams, silently. Before his wife gaily goes on her hunt for
the best backdrop, she trusses him up like a pig. That should
keep both of them fairly secure.
Justin Boyd’s Crusade, directed by Richard Harden, spotlights
a smoothly hellish job interview where the smart and ambitious
Alexis (Amber Voiles) resists humiliation by an oily and
intimidating partner in a law firm played by Stephen Bittrich.
His grilling of her is disgusting, another species of sexual
harassment. Yet they both get off on it, she subtly, he less
subtly. Yvette Siker’s Hay Outta Hell, directed by Hamilton
Clancy with a larger cast that includes Rebecca Darke as Katrin
Hiroshima, Brigitte Barnett as the Teacher Lady, Kwaku Driskell
as Restaurant Dave, Allen Jared as Restaurant Beaux and Colleen
Cosgrove as the Bag Lady, is one of the longer and more
beautifully written of the pieces. In it a group of folks who
have little to do with each other are laid low and thrown
together after Katrina.
They lose much of their possessions; Restaurant Beaux is left
with nothing but a bath towel to protect his modesty. They’re at
the mercy of the creepy, aptly named Katrin Hiroshima, who seems
to be a FEMA official who reads off requirements for
reimbursement that are probably only slightly more ridiculous
than the real ones. Finally, the Teacher Lady, fond of grousing
about her pupils, their parents and her life in general on her
drive to work, accepts the kindness of the Bag Lady, who she
almost carelessly, casually ran over before the storm. The Bag
Lady’s specialty is a drink called "Securit-Tea."
Security 2: Captive is a thought provoking, if long, night at
the theater. It closed on November 19, but will certainly
reappear, somewhere. Its message is too timely.
#1 Tanya Perez and Emilie Byron in Renee Flemings "Continuum"
part of
The DrillingCompany's SECURITY 2 Captive photo by Fred Marco
#2 Erin Mallon as a beached whale (not
a dolphin!) in Brian Christopher Williams' "A Breach of
Security" part of The Drilling Company's SECURITY 2: Captive
photos by Fred Marco
