Most of the 23 scenes (plus an "Audience Prayer and Moment of Silent Observation") had the quality of student actors improvising in a drama class. Such exercises can produce riveting, albeit inarticulate results. More often they produce interminable, repetitious scenes that go nowhere. This production's writers seemed to have hacked everything to the nubbin. But the resulting kernels of drama generally lacked sufficient artistry to rivet anyone.
A few bright talents sparked the stage during their performances. (Most of the parts were double cast, and this review reflects only one set of actors.) Patrick Duran as a Jewish doctor made an interesting transition from jovial to somber. Kathy Goral amusingly captured the erudite foolishness of an art critic in just a few lines.
Nick van Eeden in the lead exuded a powerful presence; but his general lack of energy and focus of action tended to let the drama sag. The attractive Lisa Tancredi as his wife was fine.
Perry Montauredes, the co-author, seemed uneasy as the secondary lead. Perhaps his considerable musical talents, listed in the program, are a better bet. Elizabeth Quinn as his wife was consistently bitchy, and Paula Thigpen did the best she could with such maudlin lines as "I lost my little girl.... I lost my baby!"
Casper Andreasson as a person with AIDS seemed sincere in how he handled his disease (his coughing was alarmingly realistic). But the touching reality behind his lines seemed more appropriate for a heartfelt lecture than a play.
The other performers were Rachel Zirkin, Joseph Natoli Jr., Sally Quine, Alicia Ocana, and Bobbi J. Frank.
Whoever set the stage or approved the costumes didn't try very hard and received no credit. Because of the awkward positioning of the playing space between two banks of seats in this tiny black box of a theatre, there was almost nothing a lighting designer could do besides create a lot of shadows or blind the audience from one side or the other.
Some ethereal paintings of angels and such, which were meant to suggest the walls of an art gallery's AIDS fund-raiser, may have been painted by people with HIV. The play demonstrated a noble earnestness similar to that suggested by the paintings; but it also exposed a lack of skill one can only forgive in therapeutic art.
Copyright 1999 Marshall Yaeger