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| L - R Jason Leon-Baptista, Amoni West and John Mullican - photos by Robin Randolph Photography |
By Joe Straw
There are several reasons why I ventured out on this night to see this play. The first is my experiences on aircrafts, and the second are dreams that take me on harrowing flights where the unlikely becomes the likely.
The Hudson Theatres are always beautiful venues to see intimate theatre and what a grand immersive night of theatre! Across the board, writing, directing, acting, sound, and producing was top notched for this totally engrossing experience.
In The Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency – A New Play by Mullican, directed by Rickie Peete, and produced by Andrea Meshel is now playing at the Hudson Theatres in Hollywood through October 26, 2024.
Sunrise Airlines takes pleasure in welcoming you on a flight. The Flight Attendant (Stacy Aung) greets everyone as they enter the fuselage. (The theater patrons are regarded as passengers as well.) Incidental music is performed by The DJ (Amoni West) with a placard that says “God is a DJ” on her table. All airlines must have something that soothes the senses before takeoff. And all must feel comfortable before they step on a plane and continue to feel that way until they reach their destination.
Arturo (John Mullican) gingerly enters the plane reveling in the fact that he has the perfect front row seat. Anything to make his journey less hectic. There is a purpose to this excursion. He carries his mother’s ashes from Los Angeles, California safely to be released in the proximity of Cape Cod.
Arturo carefully lifts a colorful blanket out of his mochila. He unwraps the urn and sets it on the floor of the aircraft. He then places his colorful blanket on his seat and sits to watch the makeup of passengers entering the plane.
Not to be so obvious, Arturo takes delight noticing the men and women entering the plane, their faults of wear, and their physical good points finding men more alluring in his description of said men. And he does this through an inner dialogue that never sojourns not even for a moment. Once he is nearly settled a stewardess asks him if he could move to another seat to make room for an incapacitated grandfather and his grandson. Reluctantly, he acquiesces and moves to a seat next to the handsome man he has been ogling.
But now Arturo can’t get himself to say anything intelligent to that man, and muses about his own outerwear, and being better dressed for the occasion.
It is apparent that Arturo is a nervous flyer, and every noise is a crisis within himself. And did he hear the attendants make outrageous statements in their official announcements? Or was that Arturo’s highly active imagination, premonition, or faulty hearing?
Takeoffs are particularly harrowing, and turbulence can be a hand sweating residue of fear, albeit imperceptible at first followed by the implacable shaking that never ends until the plane meets its outrageous end and gracious resolution.
In The Unlikely Event Of An Actual Emergency by John Mullican is a wonderful event for many reasons. Although based on a true incident in which John Mullican was a survivor of a plane crash, the events and characters in this play are fictionalized. The play reaches extraordinary heights in the way that Arturo is lifted from his seat after the crash and then searches for answers in his life. Those, that he has called, have arrived to help. They don’t have the complete answers, often getting information from a special data base in the nether region until he suddenly finds himself in into the horrific real-life moments, resulting in impotent despair, and a self-imposed silence until he catches that sublime moment of recovery.
There is a lot of coordination in this type of production, with so many elements, including the performances, everything must and did go perfectly, sound, visuals, and Director Rickie Peete coordinated those elements to create a visually stunning production including the takeoff and the crash landing where one feels that you are a participant on that flight.
Fritz Davis, Video Production Design, has the audience at the boarding gate, taking off from Los Angeles, and onto the snowy runway in Boston. The projection works throughout the night and his work is excellent.
There is a moment of dread somewhere after takeoff, during the flight, an unexpected noise that rumbled underneath our seats and sent Arturo (and me) into a panic. Chris Moscatiello, Sound Designer, created those sounds that played havoc with our senses throughout the night. His work is one more reason to run and see this show.
John Mullican is Arturo, a man who has just gotten over the death of his mother and like a good son he honors her wishes to take her ashes across the country despite his fear of flying. He makes every opportunity to take his mind off flying before things go awry. Mullican is a terrific actor in which an inner dialogue takes him places that he finds amusing and terrifying within the plane. He gathers enough strength and wisdom to become a hero of sorts in the end. One observes the man throughout learning a huge life lesson and Mullican captures the humanitarian passions in that character.
Dolores Aguanno is Arturo’s mother Lucinda, an artist from Venezuela, a loving Latina mother, dressed to the colorful Latina tees in a mauve camisa, a scarf, skirts and boots. She does her best to provide answers to her son, unfortunately some answers are not readily available. Aguanno gives a masterclass in this production, and this is a perfect role for her.
Glenn Ratcliff plays Liam, Arturo’s Dad complete with diamond studs in his earlobes, red suspenders, and a red kerchief in his left back pocket. An artist from the past still searching for his moment. Arturo has passed away long ago. Coming back, he knows that he hasn’t been the best father but still he was a good provider, if not the second-best artist in their home. Maybe that doesn’t sit too well with him. No matter, being in the place he’s in, he is willing to forgive with love. Another role that was perfectly cast.
Jason Leon-Baptista plays Bill, the one person that can help Arturo out of his predicament. Bill dances back into life giving purpose or meaning when hope is lost. He has a purpose in this rompecabezas, a man that brings forth life in dance complete with jazz shoes. Leon-Baptista is wonderful in the role. (One can’t give too much away as he appears late in the performance.)
Stacy Aung
Stacy Aung is also perfect as the Flight Attendant managing a friendly persona while being very placid in her manner until the fireworks happen showcasing her humanity and her ability to forcefully do her job with superhuman strengths that go beyond her capabilities. Her other roles include Panicked Woman and Phoebe. Great work.
Katheryn Peña is the Flight Purser and did well on this night. This is an interesting role because of the duty of purser which is to keep the passengers happy and the administrative duties to a minimum which doesn’t leave a lot of room for conflict and resolution. There may be more to add to this character and to the way she successfully overcomes problems she may be having on board the aircraft whether it is internal or external.
John Mullican and Amoni West
There’s music in this play and Amoni West displays a beautiful voice in the song she performs. She plays the DJ and seems to play the sound cues for the aircraft. Her work was seamless and beautiful. One gets the impressions that this woman wearing a gold camisa, red skirt, Ugg boots and cream-colored tights is God.
There are a lot of elements that make up the whole in this production and Andrea Meshel, Producer, puts it all together to make the night faultless down to the program which was produced as an inside sleeve with buckling, falling masks, and emergency exit seating instructions.
Kiana Moattari, Choreographer, adds another grand element to this production giving us dance in life, art in space, and joy in the darkest of spaces.
Other members of this delightful crew are as follows:
Steven Pope – Lighting Designer
Dayanara Williams – Stage Manager
Kangi Downing – Marketing Promotion Project Manager
If “life is just a dream,” then theatre is a place in heaven where dreams do come true. Great work by all.
Run! Run! Run!
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