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| Cast of nightnight by Lucas Hnath. Photo by Bill Brymer |
Sleep Rock Thy Brain
By Rinne Groff, Lucas Hnath and Anne Washburn
Conceived by Amy Attaway and Sarah Lunnie
Directed by Amy Attaway
Flying effects by ZFX, Inc., lead choreographer Brian
Owens
Review by Keith Waits
Copyright 2013 by Keith Waits. All rights reserved.
For the past few years the Humana Festival has
included a showcase for the Apprentice Acting Company, an evening of original
material developed around a theme or idea. As the title makes clear, sleep – or
more accurately, the elusiveness of sleep – is this year’s theme, and some
unusual staging is provided by ZFX, Inc., the Louisville-based theatrical
effects company that “flies” people.
As dreamed up by Amy Attaway and Sarah Lunnie, the
show consists of three short plays with some transitional material in between.
In Comfort Inn, by Rinne Groff, three
squirrelly participants in a sleep study are monitored by a couple of techs:
one a seasoned, cynical rule-bender, Angela (Tamara Del Ross); the other, a
neophyte named Sylvie (Madison Welterlen) who is infatuated with the supervising
scientist, Dr. Abramovitch. The premise is off to a good start as the dynamic
between the highly eccentric subjects and the conflicting techs is established. But when the lab, located on one floor of a hotel, is invaded by newlyweds and
a few of their drunken wedding party, the energy is thrown out of focus, even
if the plot thickens.
Still, there is good observation to the playing
among much of the cast, and the humor engages the audience. By the time a
moment of fantasy is introduced, in which Sylvie and Dr. Abramovitch gracefully
dance hand-in-hand above our heads, the story has won us over.
In Anne Washburn’s Dreamerwake, a large cast plays young actors training to work with
the flying system featured in all three stories. Although they are all playing
fictional characters, the merging of fiction and reality is obvious enough to
invite the audience to believe they are witnessing a nearly improvised
reenactment of what we could easily imagine was the experience of rehearsing Sleep Rock Thy Brain. References to the
actual flight choreographer and the Main Street location of the Lincoln
Performing Arts School reinforce the illusion of behind-the-scenes drama. A
muddled opening seems to establish the succeeding action as occurring within a
dream. But whatever the context, this second script never seems fully formed,
with too much Meta and not enough meat. It serves as an effective primer on the
flying system employed in delightful service to the entire evening, but it
suffers from being sandwiched between two more interesting stories.
The evening closes with Lucas Hnath’s enigmatic nightnight. The story of one insomniac
astronaut and what his profound fatigue means for his fellow astronauts and
their mission is a compelling and cryptic tale that also seems not fully
developed. The structure of the text is vividly made manifest in the staging,
and the presentation of the weightlessness in a zero gravity environment is
easily the most dramatically effective use of the flying system that dominates
the action in all three plays, not only because it logically emulates the
expected reality of the experience of spaceflight, but for how it evokes the
alienation and entropy in the story. The script is the most fully realized of
the three, although it promises so much that I could not help but wonder if
the concept could not be pushed a bit further. It also features
some of the best performances of the evening from the three actors playing the
astronauts – Samantha Beach; Ethan Dubin; and, most especially, Jeff White, whose somnambular
tone seems just right.
The Apprentice shows during the Humana Festival are typically
high energy, crowd-pleasing affairs, and there was much to like about this
production. Yet the reliance on the ZFX system, while fascinating, seems to
become too much the focus, sometimes overwhelming the intent of the action
within the text. Still it prompted this worthwhile collaboration of Louisville theatre
arts groups and is brilliantly employed in the final piece. And let‘s not
ignore the appropriateness of a theatre experience about sleeplessness that
boasts an 11:00 p.m. curtain time.
Sleep Rock Thy Brain
Part of the 37th Humana
Festival of New American Plays
March 22 – April 7, 2013
Actors Theatre of Louisville at
Lincoln Elementary School
930 East Main Street
Louisville, KY 40206
(502) 584-1205
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