March 04--Christopher Shinn's drama isn't a cohesive story so much as a series of conversations and negotiations. Sex is on the table for two different couples, but no one in either scenario walks away fully satisfied.
The tentative connection afforded by physical contact doesn't come close to filling whatever deeper need these characters have, and I wish that felt more meaningful than it does here in this Jackalope Theatre production, directed by Nate Silver. Something about the rhythm here is just off, although I'm not sure a more fluid approach would give this show the potency it needs.
A 16-year-old boy rendezvous with a middle-aged college professor, whose family is at home and none the wiser. The boy (Michael Kurowski) is quiet and sullen and yet clearly on a mission to lose his virginity. The man (Robert Howard) is talkative and bossy and on a similarly minded mission of his own: "You look a lot like I imagined you," he says, referring to their initial meeting online. "You're a cutie."
The specter of statutory rape is disturbing, but their dynamic is even more complicated. The man isn't your classic creep. He sincerely wants the kid to be comfortable with who he is, and quickly assumes the role of gay mentor.
On the very same night, the man's daughter (Paige Collins) hooks up with an old classmate (a charismatic Danny Martinez, whose performance is the only one that feels rooted in something believable). Their coupling is straightforward, if tinged with an awkward racial tension that feels unexplored. And yet whatever her true feelings are (about this guy in particular, or her sense of feeling adrift in general) remain enigmatic, and not in a good way. She resists him, then seduces him, then rejects him. None of it feels consequential.
REVIEW: Four by Jackalope Theatre Co.
2 STARS
Through March 28 at Broadway Armory Park, 5917 N. Broadway; tickets are $20 at jackalopetheatre.org
nmetz@tribpub.com
