In Which I Go to the Theatre

I'm going to list a few facts here.

1. I was a drama nerd in high school.
2. In college, I was my English professor's assistant when she auditioned people for local theatre. While sitting with her listening to auditions for A Chorus Line, she leaned over during one particular audition and said, sotto vox, "don't laugh. sounds like a cat in heat. " That was, heretofore, the single funniest thing any professor had ever said to me.
3. I didn't do any drama in college because the college I went to only performed religious plays (don't ask unless you want to hear a diatribe). 
4. After college, things like drama, research papers, critical theory, and Shakespeare became intolerable. 
5. And so it has been for a few years now.  Until a fellow blogger and all-around super cool girl suggested I sit in for the dress rehearsal of Available Light's performance of "Ear of God." 
6. A good play, just as a good movie, will alter your state of consciousness so that after the play or movie, everything will take on the surreal quality of said performance. Or is that just me? That's how I judge things anyway. This play had that quality. I was thinking of the wordplay for hours afterwards - I'm still thinking about it, as a matter of fact.  

Available Light, for the uninitiated, is a small, relatively new independent theatre company in Columbus. They perform at Columbus Dance Theatre, which is located on East Main street near the Indian Oven, and Ologie, which I think of as the single coolest place to work, and imagine that every day there must be like a 6 year old working in Candyland.  But I digress.

Available Light operates on the "pay what you want" basis, which is something that has always intrigued me as someone who hopes to one day open a restaurant.  I have always been curious as to what the producer thinks it is worth, and what people actually pay.  I imagine there are some people out there who just take everything they can for free, thinking they are getting away with something (but karma is always following you,my friend. Just ask my friend Kelly, who routinely tips 75%). 

I will admit right now that I know nothing about theatre.  In the past, people have occasionally scoffed at me for admitting ignorance, but I think ignorant people are some of the best from which to get advice. For example: I am full of ADD, can't sit still for more than 24 minutes straight, am skeptical of theatre, and have been known to leave really exciting movies just so that I can get some nervous energy out of my system to be able to continue watching (the second I can harness this energy into something productive will be the second I make my first million). Why would you want to hear a snobby review when you can hear my review? Chances are you have more in common with me than the snobby reviewer. 

So let's talk about the play.  God's Ear is written by Jenny Schwartz (read another review here).  The drama involves a small family dealing with the death of their young son.  The subject matter is heavy, yes, but the dialog is amazingly clever.  Told in cyclical fashion and loaded with trite cliche upon trite cliche (while still making sense), we see the ways in which the family deals with their loss.  Perhaps the best part of the play is its deft handling of the subject matter while still showing a family with the best intentions and love for each other.

Humor is perhaps most important in shows dealing with tragedy. This play has many very funny scenes and lines interspersed with the weighty topic.  There is so much truth in the action - the exasperated way we treat questioning children, the passive aggressive manner in which we tend to deal with our loved ones, loving them and being hateful at the same time, the tiny things we say we end up regretting, there is a long of commiserating laughter all around.

Side characters are especially humorous, and as with all good dramas, it's the foolish characters who speak the truth and get the main characters to identify their true feelings.

The acting was really great; the cast is small and well-suited to the dialog.  

So. The play was 90 minutes long and I never once got bored or had the urge to doodle on my program. I was rapt.  At the same time I was ashamed at myself for neglecting these sorts of events in our fair city.

On a side note, I have lately been on something of a diatribe with the city of Columbus.  I'm tired of the "young professionals" getting all of the money and attention. It's the creative people in our city who make it a better place to live. It's the actors, the artists, the chefs, the writers, the woodworkers, the crafty folks, the gallery owners, and everyone I've missed - it's these people who make our city a great place. The creative class gives our city a voice and a spirit of independence. 

If we don't support them, what will become of our city? a mindless beehive of junior executives drinking red bull and vodkas?  

Support independent creative people. They make everyone's lives better.

God's Ear runs through June 20th.  I hope you make it out.