Playwright Lauren
Gunderson presents us with an apparent comedy about a young girl being awakened
to the beauty of poetry (Whitman) and music (Coltrane) by a visiting classmate.
However, in the final minutes the play suddenly explodes into an allegory on
finding life in death.
Normally I’d
hesitate to reveal the ending but, in this case, I feel justified in letting
you in on a secret that for some ungodly reason was kept from the audience
until right before the final curtain. The young girl is dying of an incurable
illness and the young man is actually her ministerial Angel of Life.
The fact that he arrives
bearing homemade cookies is only part of the deliberate misinformation that the
author sends our way. Even dramaturg Christopher Breyer overlooked the basic
theatrical precept that when you end with a revelation some foreshadowing is
needed. Otherwise we sat through 90 minutes with what seemed like odd dramatic
contrivances thrown in that only made sense after we had left the theatre. Evidently,
this play has received awards and accolades elsewhere so if you go let me know
if I was mislead or not.
No fault to the excellent
actors: Jennifer Finch is amazing as she switches dynamically from hostile to
vulnerable, and Matthew Hancock manages to make human someone no longer of this
planet. Realistic direction by Robin Larsen and impressive bedroom set by Tom
Buderwitz. 
At the Fountain Theatre,
5060 Fountain Ave (at Normandie) in Hollywood, through June 14. Tickets at
(323) 663-1525 or www.FountainTheatre.com.
Photos by Ed Krieger.
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