The How and the Why by Sarah Treem

L - R Faye Viviana and Andrea Nittoli Kelly - Photos by Maria Proios

By Joe Straw

 

 

My parents divorced before I was ten years old. My four siblings and I saw my father briefly during the weekends when he would drop us off at the movies and go have a couple of beers.  My mother remarried when I was in the sixth grade. After a series of court battles, we didn’t see our father anymore. Many years later, I found out he was still alive. I Google searched his phone number and I decide to get in touch with him.  There were questions I needed answering. I stared at the phone for what must have been forty minutes, shaking at times, wondering if I was doing the right thing before I made the call. – Narrator

 

An impenetrable huge gate now fortifies the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Knocking is of little use.  Knocking creates a cavernous sound similarly like the sound of the doors in Young Frankenstein.  Knocking only complicates things. “Who’s there?” they asked, and if your answers are not satisfactory, they will not open the gate.  So it was back to the car to wait in the warmth on this chilly night. It’s a shame because mingling outside before the theatre doors open is always a pleasant pastime. Naytheless.

 

Crimson Square theatre Company presents The How and the Why by Sarah Treem and directed by Allen Barton.  Produced by Crimson Square Theatre Company in association with Beverly Hills Playhouse, and Cheshire Moon, Inc. through February 20, 2022. 

 

Rachel Hardman (Faye Viviana) stood alone.  And when I mean alone, she is alone.  Her parents were dead.  The boyfriend dropped her off where she found her way into a cold, grey, and inhospitable office.  There’s a lot to explain, a lot to overcome, to find answers that probably won’t be forthcoming, but first she wants to sit and not say anything.

 

Beginnings are usually traumatic.  Hence the opening words of “Oh, my God” spoken by Zelda Kahn (Andrea Nittoli Kelly) at their first encounter speaks volumes of what is to come. 

 

In the quiet of a professor’s office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Zelda is willing to wait Rachel out.  Zelda has very little planned; well at least for the moment.  It’s her office, her home away from home, and she has the time. Academia and the mystery of life make life so enticing.   

 

“You are very beautiful.” – Zelda

 

“I know.” – Rachael

 

That’s odd and certainly too familiar as an icebreaker.  But, it was said.  It’s over and done with and Rachael can only look straight ahead, filled with something resembling unforgiving anger.

 

Rachel Hardman is a grad student at NYU in evolutionary biology who has recently discovered her birth parent is Professor Zelda Kahn at a Cambridge Massachusetts university. Their meeting is preceded by a phone call, possibly a dramatic intrusion, but a long expected phone call leading to the get-together.

 

Now knowing whom her mother is, Rachel’s next quest is to find the identity of her father.

 

Zelda discovers that Rachael is also an evolutionary biologist. Or, maybe she knows this already. And even though it is only 10:00 am, Zelda breaks out the celebratory champagne for just this occasion.

 

Trying to break the ice, Zelda is interrupted by a phone call.  It’s her “boyfriend” Michael, an oncologist, who is taking her to Vienna after the conference. She is rather upset by the call and loses track of their conversation.  She does this a lot during the course of their discussion.

 

Zelda wants to know about Rachel’s paper about “human menstruation.” 

 

Rachel said she submitted the paper to the National Organization of Research Biologist (NOORB) conference, of which Zelda is on the board, but the paper didn’t get the necessary votes and was rejected. Rachel calls the selection process “bullsh*t”.   

 

To veer away from a heated discussion, Zelda wants to know more about Rachel and her boyfriend, Dean. But the discussion veers back to Rachel’s work and the exigency of sharing her work with an audience of scientists.

 

Rachel describes her research and Zelda is impressed by its originality and complexity. Zelda secures a slot at the NOORB conference for Rachel. After the presentation, Rachel gets some tough questions during the question-and-answer period. In Rachel’s mind, this is disastrous, especially when she realizes that Zelda has mysteriously left the room.

 

L - R Faye Viviana and Andrea Nittoli Kelly Kelly

 

 

The How And The Why by Sarah Treem is exceptional. It is a ravishingly and mentally satisfying soul-searching quest for the truth. And, in this play, finding the truth is quixotic and inexhaustible because it is dolled out in increments. Obfuscated by a necessity to achieve success in a professional setting, neither of the characters are totally reliable reporters. They admit it themselves. They hide the truth when it is convenient and when they feel it is necessary. And with that said, Treem is marvelous at foreshadowing dialogue, giving us hints of what is to come underlying events that will be revealed in the second act.

 

Wonderfully directed by Allen Barton (author of The Oasis of Insanity: The Study and Pursuit of Acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse – a wonderful book by the way), the play seems to be a slight variation of the published work, especially the ending that is exquisitely tender. Barton’s work seems to press all the right buttons and the emotional outpouring on this particular night validated the night.

 

Andrea Nittoli Kelly is true to form at Zelda Kahn, a professor who hits all the right notes. After all, she is the adult of the two.  She is sensible and reasonable when the discussion veers ugly and the barrage comes at breakneck speeds.  There was a slight false note when she is looking for the tissues. Most professors, without looking around, know exactly where the tissues are when graduate students come in to cry in their offices.

 

Faye Viviana is exceptional as Rachel Hardman as she rattles off her hypothesis as though she can do it in her sleep, forward and backwards too. A character choice Viviana has made seems to have the character sealed in a glass test tube. She looks forward to the fourth wall only occasionally glancing back to her counterpart with stinging requitals of abandonment without coming right out and saying it.   It is a fascinating state of loneliness and nerves, bubbling, boiling, and waiting to explode at any given moment. It is a remarkable choice and one that makes for a remarkable night.

 

Faye Viviana was also the Executive Producer of the show.

 

Other members of the crew are as follows:

 

Jeffery Sun – Stage Manager

Derrick McDaniels – Lighting Designer

Lisagaye Tomlinson – House Manager

Jessica Ott – Box Office

Mark Iverson & Whitney Nielsen – Set Building

Allen Barton & Jeffrey Sun – Sound Design

Jeffrey Sun – Graphics Design

Maria Proios – Promo Photography

V3 Productions – Marketing

Emily Chapman – Social Media

 

Donations to Crimson Square can made at www.crimsonsquare.org/support

 

Ticket information available at: www.CrimsonSquare.org

 

   

 

 

Death, With Benefits by John Strysik

L to R Susan Damante, Larry Eisenbert, and Cherly David - Photo credit: Eric Keitel

 

By Joe Straw

“Did I see them Killer Grannies of Santa Monica?  Yeah, you could say that. I lived near them.  From what I heard they were just a couple of streets east and two blocks north from what you see here, a homeless encampment. I thought it was strange at first seeing these two, totally out of place and unsure of themselves, fondling ham sandwiches as a sort of enticement to get a someone here to get into the car with them.  Guys out here are so hungry and want for drink it was almost like they was throwing bread crumbs to pigeons, leading them into the car, their car.  Are pigeons homeless? No!  Thank you! They was nicely dressed, wearing athletic gear, and truth be told weren’t very athletic. Those that got into her car, well I never saw them again.  And we know what happened to the two grannies.” – A homeless witness who didn’t want his name release for fear of reprisal.

 

Ned (Kevin Dulude), an elderly gentleman, seventies or eighties, uses his walker to go into the kitchen to get some food. The phone rings, he seems oblivious to it all. Something is not completely right in his head. His quest on this night is to find food, any food. But locks on the cupboard and the refrigerator are reason why he is excruciatingly thin. His hunger makes his mind weak.  A few grapes do not make a meal and so he goes back into his room, hungry and pathetic looking.

 

Theatre 40 presents Death, with Benefits written by John Strysik, directed by Jeff G. Rack, and produced by David Hunt Stafford through February 20^th, 2022.  

 

Mary (Susan Damante) has a pretty good life.  She owns an apartment building and lives here in one of the better units on the ground floor.  And life would be heavenly if only she could keep the pesky tenants happy. The troublesome phone calls left on her answering machine were endless.  And Mary could feel for them,  only she couldn’t do anything because she was broke. Flat broke.  The only thing affordable to her was an exercise class.

 

Today is different.

 

Mary invites Duscha (Cheryl David) a name of Slavic origins, possibly Russian, meaning Divine Spirit. And Duscha is a happy person, athletic, widowed, and in want of a drink this fine morning - typical Slav.

 

Mary obliges, fixes them a pitcher of Long Island Ice Teas, and pours them into Bascal aluminum glasses.  The kind of cup that makes you cringe when teeth meet metal.

 

Mary and Duscha get to talk about life. Mary’s life in particular, how things are bad, she has no money, and how difficult it is to upkeep the apartment building.  Duscha tells her that she can fix anything, even the front door to her apartment that doesn’t stay closed. Duscha says she would fix that if Mary let her move in.

 

At first, Mary is hesitant. (Why?  One is not sure. Playing hard to get?) But, she sees the advantages of such a prospect.

 

So Duscha moves in and discovers there’s another person living there, Ned. Mary tells her that Ned is her son-in-law and that her daughter left him there.  Mary explains to Duscha that she doesn’t want to throw him out because “He’s family.”

 

Possibly, little time passed, and the front door still not completely fixed, suddenly opens which allows Ned to make a fast escape on his walker. Unfortunately, taking advantage of the Santa Monica sunshine, Ned is run over by a car, squished flat, and dies.

 

So, the policeman (Phil Sokoloff) arrives, asks a few questions, and is off.

 

Ned had a life insurance policy and this gets Mary to thinking they could offer older homeless gentlemen a place to stay, take out life insurance policies on these men, and then collect when they die.

 

Unfortunately, for the men, Mary and Duscha would speed that process along.  And Joe (Larry Eisenberg) would be their first roommate.

 

Death, With Benefits by John Strysik is being billed as a dark comedy and it most definitely was. There was a lot to enjoy in this production. 

 

Directed by Jeff G. Rack one would question if it were dark or a comedy.  Maybe that is unfair; there were a lot of good things in this play.  But, timing is critical and moments really need to hit the mark if the comedy is to work. One really has to believe the life and death circumstances of these two ladies to complete the execution of the comedy.  Playing to the fourth wall does not constitute comedy, interaction between characters do.   The audience has to believe the circumstances are real, the physical actions work, and the stakes are monumental.There are other levels yet to be explored.

 

Let’s look at this play from another perspective without changing any of the dialogue. Ned has to be perceived as an annoyance. It is Mary’s best interest to get rid of Ned so, how does she do this?

 

It has to be in Mary’s mind that she needs help getting rid of Ned. She needs a partner, someone who is physically fit, and isn’t a lunatic.  From the moment Mary comes into the apartment with Duscha, Mary has to want something from Duscha. Mary must have a plan, a belief in nihilism, and she must see if she can seduce Duscha to implement that plan.

 

Does Mary “accidentally” leave the door open, and how does that play into their next plan of action?

 

There has to be a leader in this group and one supposes that it has to be Mary and we need to see that in action and in deed.

 

Phil Sokoloff and Susan Damante - Photo credit: Eric Keitel

 

 

Susan Damante as Mary Helmsworth screams a lot in this play.  She does a fine job but this role really needs fine-tuning. Keep what she’s got just add to her action - one being the oblique prowler of a near dead man.   

 

Cheryl David has her moments as Duscha Gehenlegen.  She is the conscience of the group worrying about God and what is to become to the both of them. Duscha must put up more of a fight.  She seems to play into whatever hand she is dealt. One is not sure how or why the opera music plays into her motives or the scenes for that matter. The operatic music must play a significant role or contribute to her objective.  

 

Kevin Dulude had on this night a white beard that almost came off while he was banging on the refrigerator door trying to get it open.  The problem with the beard is that if you lose it, reality is lost, and comedy is equally lost. He also plays Geoffrey, a hairdresser, who comes to the house to change the appearance of Duscha, an action that is not completely or reasonably worked out.

 

Larry Eisenberg does a fine job as Joe, the obstreperous homeless man. He does well in playing off one woman against the other.

 

Phil Sokoloff does dual duty as A Policeman and then as a homeless man. More could be added to the Policeman but maybe that was the director’s choice. To show the audience that a policeman could come into their building and not scare with wits out of the two ladies. There is little in the reaction from the two ladies from this policeman. And possibly Mary come to the realization they could act however they wanted to act with future tenants knowing the incompetent police were nearby.   Sokoloff also does a fine job as homeless man number two.

 

Jeff G. Rack was also the Set Designer and another nice job.

 

Other members of the crew are as follows:

 

Michèle Young – Costume Designer

Derrick McDaniel – Lighting Designer

Nick Foran – Sound Designer

Judi Lewin – Wigs, Hair & Makeup Design

Marc Antonio Pritchett – Fight Choreographer

Don Solosan – Stage Manager

 

There is always free parking at Theatre 40, the people are friendly, and the atmosphere is incredible.

 

Online Ticketing:  www.theatre40.org

 

Reservations: 310-364-0535