Here is yet another "powerful, thought-provoking thriller,” as I labelled last night’s Boy Gets Girl at Riverwalk. Peppermint Creek’s GLORIA is part thriller, part character study of a toxic work environment, and part psychological dive into the cutthroat ambitions of youth.
This is also a similarly "complex and fascinating script,” this time by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Wikipedia tells us “Gloria was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer committee wrote: ‘A play of wit and irony that deftly transports the audience from satire to thriller and back again.’ ”
There are three scenes, moving from a Manhattan publishing company to a Starbucks eight months later and an L.A. television company two years later. Most characters are double-cast, so there is a little “figuring out” when/if the actors have become “new” people, but this diverse and flexible cast differentiates their characters well, under the able direction of Ben Cassidy.
We are warned of a “moment of stage violence including guns.” The aftermath of that violence points an accusing finger at the exploitation of the violent event and perhaps a offers a cautionary tale and a suggestion that we could do better. It was great to see Adam Carlson onstage again, the only character who keeps his singular identity throughout, and offers some hope.
Connor Kelly is intense and excellent, as usual, playing a very conflicted character for the first two scenes, and a wonderfully contrasting one in the last scene. Anasti Her was exquisitely annoying as Kendra. Storm Kopitsch and Ndegwa McCloud each did well in three very different personas. Filonna Thomas is a talented new face on the Peppermint stage playing two contrasting roles.
Gloria continues through January 26 at Central United Methodist Church next to the Capitol.
There is street parking and a parking ramp on Seymour Street behind the church. Note 2pm show this Saturday. 8pm 1/16, 17, 23, 24, 25; 2pm 1/18, 19, 26
http://www.peppermintcreek.org
This is also a similarly "complex and fascinating script,” this time by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Wikipedia tells us “Gloria was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer committee wrote: ‘A play of wit and irony that deftly transports the audience from satire to thriller and back again.’ ”
There are three scenes, moving from a Manhattan publishing company to a Starbucks eight months later and an L.A. television company two years later. Most characters are double-cast, so there is a little “figuring out” when/if the actors have become “new” people, but this diverse and flexible cast differentiates their characters well, under the able direction of Ben Cassidy.
We are warned of a “moment of stage violence including guns.” The aftermath of that violence points an accusing finger at the exploitation of the violent event and perhaps a offers a cautionary tale and a suggestion that we could do better. It was great to see Adam Carlson onstage again, the only character who keeps his singular identity throughout, and offers some hope.
Connor Kelly is intense and excellent, as usual, playing a very conflicted character for the first two scenes, and a wonderfully contrasting one in the last scene. Anasti Her was exquisitely annoying as Kendra. Storm Kopitsch and Ndegwa McCloud each did well in three very different personas. Filonna Thomas is a talented new face on the Peppermint stage playing two contrasting roles.
Gloria continues through January 26 at Central United Methodist Church next to the Capitol.
There is street parking and a parking ramp on Seymour Street behind the church. Note 2pm show this Saturday. 8pm 1/16, 17, 23, 24, 25; 2pm 1/18, 19, 26
http://www.peppermintcreek.org
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