WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
ACTing/REACTing – the stuff of an actor’s craft. Coincidentally, the core of this comedic-drama now playing in Scripps Ranch somewhat mirrors that same process cleverly and – occasionally – achingly. Mark St. Germain’s play DANCING LESSONS aims to reveal two disparate characters existing in their own fragile, yet comfortable constructs for protection sake, and offers them opportunity to pierce each other’s bubble, leading to consequential results for both of them. The playwright serves up their interactions, by the way, with a heap of unique and sassy one-liners.
First, we meet “Senga” (Michelle Marie Trester), sequestered in her present day NYC apartment, choosing to shield herself from the touch of others in her life. She buries herself in alcohol, potato chips, pills and self-pity as she stagnates from depression about her circumstances. An unfortunate accident with a city cab has severely damaged one of her legs and she faces the prospect of potentially never being able to dance again. For this passionate professional, she believes that it would be almost a death knell if that were to occur. The development already has tanked her marriage plans; likewise, the fact that she’s gulping down a steady parade of medications, while concurrently indulging in way too much booze, signals an approaching personal unraveling in other ways as well.
Senga sabotages her engagement abruptly and hides the true nature of her situation from the aunt who raised her while she wallows in the muck of a life in crisis. She ACTs out her loneliness and desperation and REACTs by estranging herself from others. Then, an annoying knock on the door portends a change.
Enter “Ever” (Andrew Gumm), an autistic neighbor in her building, who proposes to pay Senga over two thousand dollars for a one hour dancing lesson. This science professor begs her for help in crossing the moat to conquer social demons he is likely to face in the setting of an awards dinner for his achievement as a professor of environmental studies.
Ever manages his own life by endlessly charting each turn that it possibly could take as it unfolds; that’s his process, if you will. He ACTs with precision after careful analysis and REACTs with devastating honesty to each and every variable. Now that both of Mr. St. Germain’s characters in this sweet story have been introduced, the reader has discerned that these two names are highly unusual. (Yes, there exists an explanation for each, but part of the joy of live theatre is being in the moment; therefore the reader will receive no spoilers here.)
The sweetness plays out in a number of ways as these characters undertake their journeys to a redemptive discovery about the barriers each of them has constructed to avoid coming to terms with their own challenges. Senga and Ever have ACTed according to the dictates of their life experiences, then they REACT with understanding gained about the other’s “bruises”. Director Meg DeBoard has successfully guided these actors to engage – fitfully – to accommodate each other’s damaged personas in a quest for new possibilities in life.
Mr. Gumm brilliantly conveys the quirks and inadequacies of Ever, illustrated from the gitgo by his insistence that he can’t be touched, as he attempts to bridge the chasm between his normal coping mechanisms and an altered state of functioning. He begins his dance lesson, conducted in spurts by “teacher” Senga, requesting guidance for a fast dance aimed at “getting through” his award dinner experience with the least amount of disruption to his life’s schematic. As the lesson evolves, it becomes a slow dance of recognition that the ridiculously plotted circumstances of his routine may need a modicum of adjustment.
That slow dance, initially under the puppeteering of the damaged pro of Ms. Trester as Senga, evolves into a shared teaching arrangement between the two wounded marionettes. She begins the instruction pulling all the strings herself until his brutal, yet keen observations leave her best laid plans in a jumbled mess of tangled strings. And her redemption, the audience observes, may be in the offing. Who’s pulling the strings now? As for the actor Michelle Marie Trester, she continues a string of strong, character-driven performances lifting her to a pedestal of accomplishment likely to impress the San Diego acting community.
The physical production, shaped by producer Ted Leib, successfully conveys the vision of the playwright in the modest confines of the Legler-Benbaugh Theatre on the campus of Alliant International University.
DANCING LESSONS is a co-production of Scripps Ranch Theatre and Oceanside Theatre Company. Similarly, last year’s admirable production of OUTSIDE MULLINGAR followed the same path (albeit in reverse order). The SRT portion of this run continues thru February 24. Then, the whole shebang heads north, soon to be appearing on the marquee of the Brooks Theatre in downtown Oceanside from March 1 – 17.
Wherever San Diego audiences choose to take in this worthy production, they are likely to find these characters endearing and charming. Both the humor and life lessons in this play may not increase one’s dance vocabulary, but joining these actors as they take a whirl on the dance floor, nevertheless, should be exhilarating!
