by Shirley Lorraine

A Mad Cap Romp in High Gear

Santa Paula Theater Center has pulled out all the stops for their last production of the 2023 season. The 39 Steps, by Patrick Barlow, garnered the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2007 as well as numerous other awards and nominations. It is a fast-paced delight featuring well over 100 quirky characters, all portrayed by seven highly capable and skilled actors.

Where else could you get vaudeville, a mystery set in bonny Scotland, people becoming props and a hefty dash of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the early years, all packed into one whirling dervish of an evening? Why, Santa Paula Theater Center, of course!

Director Richard Kuhlman has assembled a cast that is a marvel to witness, tightly choreographing the action while also allowing room for (and probably encouraging) improvisation. The staging is a parody adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. But there’s no Hitchcockian suspense here. This production will leave you laughing frequently and wondering what they could possibly do next.

John Webber leads the story as Richard Hannay, who becomes entangled in a spy operation with a mysterious woman who is murdered in his flat. Taylor Lee Marr plays an alter-ego version of Richard Hannay, with the two changing places often to illustrate various points.

The other five actors, Leslie Upson, Sarah Boughton, Martha Benavides, Carlita Mead and Tom Hall, carry the entire rest of the very large cast of characters. Most memorably, Upson plays Annabella Schmidt (the murderee), Boughton is the flighty Pamela, Benavides embodies Professor Jordan. Professor Jordan’s wife is played with glee by Carlita Mead and Tom Hall gives a stellar turn as Mr. Memory. All take on their various roles with total abandon, adding to the overall hilarity.

I particularly enjoyed wondering what antics would come forth next. In true Python manner, some of the rapid-fire chicanery flew past me like a rocket. Due to the mile-a-minute pace of the first act, I did feel the second act suffered from a slight case of an old Chinese malady, On Too Long. Perhaps I just ran out of energy on their behalf. Nonetheless, it was a wild ride full of surprises, humor and rolling r’s (oh, those Scots!).

Oh, and yes, in the end we do learn the significance of the 39 steps which seemed anticlimactic given the frantic action leading to it. Amidst all the melee, the explanation seemed rather ordinary.

A clever and creative opening had the cast all on stage giving the pre-show audience notes (exit locations, intermission, etc.) which led seamlessly into the play’s action and invited the audience to be an integral part of the evening. A nice change which worked quite well for this production.

The 39 Steps runs through December 17 at which time the cast and crew will have fully earned a restful holiday before the 2024 season begins. Keep a bookmark on the Center’s website to find out what is in store. www.santapaulatheatercenter.org .

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
NYAD – Netflix

NYAD is the incredibly inspiring true story of world-renowned open ocean swimmer Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) and her quest to conquer what was believed to be impossible by swimming unassisted and without pause from Cuba to Key West, Florida. The trip was difficult due to unpredictable weather and strong ocean currents and Diana had first tried at the age of 28, but the weather and oceans currents were very unfavorable and she only completed 76 of the 103 miles, due to 8 foot swell pushing her off course toward Texas.

At the age of 60, Diana decided she wanted to give Cuba another try and began lap swimming in the local public pool after not having done any swimming at all for nearly 30 years. When she was able to swim 8 hours without pause, she reached out to her best friend Bonnie (Jodie Foster) to coach her and join her in her attempt in Cuba. Bonnie initially refused, not having even known that Diana had started training again, but eventually agreed and they went to Mexico for a test run in the open ocean.

Diana’s goal in Mexico was 8 hours in open water, but in her first attempt she was only able to complete 4.5 hours. This was unacceptable to Diana, who asked Bonnie if they could try again and was able to complete just over 8 hours the next day. She would sing songs to herself to keep pace, but they had to be on a 4×4 beat so that it would keep her timing correct and she built up a library of at least 96 mostly classic hit songs to sing in her head as she swam.

2nd attempt, August 7, 2011 at age 60. Diana was given a different medication than the Tylenol requested for shoulder pain and she was allergic to it, had a medical emergency and had to stop at 53 miles left in after 28 hours 42 minutes. 3rd attempt, September 23^rd 2011 at age 62. Diana was stung by box jellyfish, which are extremely dangerous and not known to be in the area, and given an EpiPen injection unknowingly making it worse having to stop 59 miles from Florida. 4^th attempt, August 18, 2012 at age 61. Diana ended the swim at 12:55 am on August 21, 2012, due to two storms and nine jellyfish stings though she manged to travel the greatest distance than her three previous attempts.

5th attempt, August 31, 2013 at age 64. Diana wore a special box jellyfish suit at night to keep her from getting injured. On the morning of the second day, the electronic system that was designed to repel sharks also went down and a shark headed for her but she was protected by the shark wranglers who were able to get the system back online in time. After swimming almost two full days she started hallucinating which was natural for the depleted nutrients in her body, and though she was exhausted and hallucinating still had about 12 hours to go. Bonnie was able to encourage Diana to continue and she finally walked up on the shore of Key West Florida after 52 hours 54 minutes in the ocean and was greeted by hundreds of fan there to support her mission.

Since her epic accomplishment, Diana’s talked at many TED talks and done many other notable things including appearing on “Dancing with the Stars” being a the subject of a skit on “Saturday Night Live”, and starting a movement to walk across America with her best friend Bonnie Stoll.

Annette Benning and Jodie Foster are dead ringers visually for their characters and they portray a very believed bond of best friends. Not only is this an incredibly inspiring story for people of all ages, there’s an aeriel shot at 1h16m of Ventura’s Crowne Plaza where in the movie Diana was giving a presentation to a group in a hotel conference room.

Runtime: 2h 1m

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Milli Vanilli – Paramount+

In the late 1980s, Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Movan of Milli Vanilli exploded into the pop music scene with an album that sold over 8 million records, was number one on charts worldwide, won three American Music Awards and a Grammy. Rob and Fab were megastars living the high life, though that success would be short lived when it was discovered the neither of them actually sang on the record. The truth was that other recording artists had performed on the original, and that Rob and Fab were just dancers that had lip-synced through every moment of the music career.

Fabrice grew up in Paris. When he was 18 he moved to Munich, Germany, ran out of money and became homeless. He was able to get some jobs teaching dancing, which was what he studied in Paris and Rob was a local break-dancer. Rob was 20 and the two were the only blacks in the popular Germany dance scene. Rob and Fabrice met in 1986 at a party, moved in together and started throwing large parties, eventually doing shows in a local club singing and dancing. They got their first break in Munich as backup dancers on a popular TV music show.

They also began modeling and set themselves apart by creating their signature dreads looks. It was then that Rob connected them with Frank Farain, producer of another well-known group at the time Boney-M. Frank’s assistant Ingrid Segieth said they had a project that they thought Rob and Fabrice would be good for if they were interested. With an offer of 1500 Deutsch Marks advance each, Rob and Fabrice excitedly signed the contract with little review of the details.

Several months went by and finally Ingrid called asking them to come to the studio. After playing the music from “Girl You Know It’s True” Frank explained he did not want Rob and Fab to sing on the record, only to dance and be lip-syncing performers. Rob and Fab decided that they would just do this one song and get out. Frank solicited the singing talent of several other artists: popular American singer Brad Howell as lead singer, lead rapper Charles Shaw was given $12K to agree to the project and keep quiet about the details, and backup singers twins Linda and Jodie Rocco.

Frank released “Girl You Know It’s True”, which quickly reached number one on the German Billboard charts, did great in Europe, and then exploded in the US reaching number two on the US charts and was a top five hit in 23 countries around the world. After the US success, Rob and Fab signed with Arista Records and president Clive Davis hired songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote “Blame It On the Rain”. Arista released the album and it went 6x Platinum selling 8 million albums with three number one hits singles, winning three American Music Awards and a Grammy.

Stardom made Rob and Fab crazy and they threatened Frank, saying that if he didn’t pay them $150K they would reveal the truth. Frank decided to take control by holding a press conference in NY and revealed to the Associated Press that Rob and Fab were not the singers on the album. In worldwide news Milli Vanilli became known as “Phony Bologna” and they were required to return their Grammy. Frank had little fallout from his admission and Clive lied about knowing the truth, letting Fab and Rob take the full fall, with Rob falling the hardest.

Rob was arrested numerous times for drugs and related crimes, and unsuccessfully tried rehab. He went to a rehab in Germany and felt after three months he had conquered his addictions and upon leaving went to visit Ingrid. Rob was found dead the next morning by Ingrid in a Frankfurt hotel room having consumed alcohol and pills. Fab was devastated but recovered and found love, got married, had several children and continues performing live singing the music of Milli Vanilli.

Runtime: 1h 46m

by Shirley Lorraine

The Devil is in the Details

The bombardment of information is a daily and relentless state of being these days. From every direction we are fed tidbits, whole bits and teasers which may or may not be true. Therein lies the crux of the conflict in the Rubicon Theatre Company’s current production of The Lifespan of a Fact by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell based on a true-ish story by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal.

The show opens the Rubicon’s Silver Anniversary season with this premiere production mounted by the Fountain Theatre West Coast. Through a collaboration between the two theater companies, Ventura audiences can now enjoy this extraordinary work. All three of the actors, Ron Bottitta, Jonah Robinson and Inger Tudor, performed in the premiere production in Los Angeles and brought their roles to the Rubicon stage.

Writers can be finicky about the words they place on the page. They may use flexible criteria for their choices, as D’Agata (Bottitta) shares, for the sake of the story, its emotional impact and readability. Fact-checker intern Fingal (Robinson) takes his work seriously and seeks what he feels is the absolute truth in the facts. Editor (Tudor) wants a terrific story to pull her failing publication back into the limelight.

The three of them become engaged in a verbal battle as they each stand their ground for their viewpoint to be heard. The result is a fascinating in-depth discussion of detail, accuracy and facts versus story, emotion, and readable flow.

Fingal finds many tiny discrepancies in the facts as presented by D’Agata. Some are so small as a differing second of time in two different reports. The question becomes does that small difference bear enough weight to require changing? D’Agata says no, Fingal says yes. Both are right, and both are wrong.

The 90-minute discourse is presented without intermission. I and others in the audience were completely absorbed in the minutia of the discussion which raised so many questions to explore. Keeping in mind that every single person will have a different perspective on a situation depending on myriad factors, is it even possible to have a single accurate fact? Where does the point of compromise become more important than absolute accuracy? Is such a thing even possible? And to whom does it matter?

All three actors present viable arguments. The performances are exemplary, the writing is tight and introspective. This is a piece that sends the audience on a wild ride of internal “exploration of the creative process, journalistic integrity and the blurry boundaries between fact and fiction.”

The Rubicon has chosen an extraordinary work to open their 2023-2024 season. The Lifespan of a Fact will have you laughing, pondering and questioning everything you read, hear or see from this point forward. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

The Lifespan of a Fact continues with matinee and evening performances through October 21. www.rubicontheatre.org for all details.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
The Burial – Prime Video

Based upon a true story, “The Burial” is a great David and Goliath type story of a small family funeral business that took on foreign corporate greed. In 1995, Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) was 75-years-old and the proud patriarch of a family with 13 children and 24 grandchildren in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was a funeral director and owner of a 100-year-old family funeral home business that had grown into eight locations and provided funeral insurance across the state.

Jeremiah had experienced some trouble maintaining the minimum financial requirements to own funeral homes and the state insurance commission temporarily suspended his license. Jeremiah sought the counsel of his personal lawyer and friend for over 30 years Mike Allred (Alan Ruck) who suggested that he sell three of the eight funeral homes he owned to fix his financial woes. He recommended selling to a company in Canada called the Loewen Group owned by Ray Loewen, who was purchasing independently owned funeral homes all throughout the US and Canada.

They scheduled a meeting with Loewen in Canada, and when Jeremiah met Mike at the airport, Mike learned Jeremiah had invited a young black attorney who was a friend of his son’s from college named Hal Dockins (Mamoukou Athie) to join the team and attend the meeting they had scheduled with Loewen. Mike was noticeably uncomfortable due to some very obvious racist views, but Jeremiah just went about heading to Vancouver to meet Loewen on his yacht.

The Loewen Group owned over 1,000 funeral homes, nearly 500 cemeteries, several hundred insurance companies and were gearing up for what they smugly referred to as the “Golden Era of Death”, when the Baby Boomer generation would begin to reach their “age of demise”. Loewen calculated this shift would result in a minimum increase of 60% in deaths nationwide and wanted to capitalize on this profit potential by buying all the funeral homes he could find.

Jeremiah struck a deal with Loewen to have them purchase three funeral homes and Loewen agreed he would not sell insurance in Mississippi as not to compete with Jeremiah’s business. Four months went by, yet Loewen hadn’t closed the deal and it seemed as though Loewen was trying to stall Jeremiah until he ran out of options that would eventually result in him losing his family business, which then Loewen could obtain for practically nothing.

They filed a lawsuit in a neighboring county that was 70% black, which would mean the jury would be composed primary of black citizens. Hal knew that Mike would not do well as lead counsel with a black jury, and suggested they consider another lawyer for the team. Hal had come to know about a charismatic personal injury lawyer named Willie Gary (Jamie Fox) in the black community, who had not lost a case in twelve years and suggested they seek his assistance with the case.

Willie originally refused, stating that he was a personal injury lawyer and that this was a contract law case, but was impressed with Jeremiah’s background and integrity so agreed to work the case. The team thought they had an advantage now with a black attorney as lead, only to find out that Loewen hired a hot shot female black attorney named Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett) along with a team of black attorneys to support her.

Though Willie and the team had limited expertise in contract law, they were determined to be triumphant in their quest to expose the Loewen Group for racial injustice and corporate corruption.

Runtime: 2h 6m

by Shirley Lorraine

English thriller on stage in Ojai

Now on stage at the Ojai Art Center Theater is The Rope, a classy psychological thriller built on a true story. It’s not a “who-dunnit.” It’s “why it was done.” The crime is explained in the first few minutes. From there, the action relies on wordplay, not too subtle hints and the gullibility of others.

The Rope, written in 1929, by Patrick Hamilton, explores sentiments based on the real-life crime of two wealthy American teens, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who kidnapped and killed a fellow university student just for the intellectual experience. They took their lead from studying philosopher Nietzsche’s theory of Superman in which it is promoted that some people are intellectually superior to others and thus are free to live by different standards.

In fact, Leopold and Loeb were both said to be of high intellect, confident that they could successfully pull off a perfect crime. However, they were turned in by an acquaintance whose own lack of moral compass defied logic. The famous trial of Leopold and Loeb was sensational as they were defended by Clarence Darrow who ultimately spared them execution by obtaining sentences of life imprisonment.

In Hamilton’s rendering, the setting is London. Students Wyndham Brandon (Jon Markham) and Charles Granillo (Evan Roush) have just strangled a fellow student and stashed his body in a chest in their drawing room. They then hold a small party and brazenly invite the victim’s father, Sir Johnstone Kentley, (Ray Mastrovito) as well as a few others, basically to heighten their feelings of superiority over all their guests.

Ultimately, they are found out, their plan to leave crumbles heightened by drink, emotions, a raging storm and confrontation. Even though Brandon boldly announced to the guests what had been done, he was stunned to find that his ruse did not fool everybody. His partner, Granillo, is unable to keep a stiff upper lip, and falls apart as the action continues.

The interior setting is well appointed with some nicely detailed touches. The play also features a well-rounded cast of typically English characters – a butler (Len Klaif), an ingenue (Stephanie Blaze Bates) dotty older lady (Theresa Secor) and a naïve young man (William Palo), keeping the action light-hearted in many areas, to further highlight the burdens held by the hosts. Each plays their part well, adding subtle humor and an air of nonchalance throughout.

The story was retold and relocated for American audiences by Alfred Hitchcock, in a 1948 film starring James Stewart. Some of the characters’ names and identities changed, but the plot remained the same in content and conflict.

The plot is a complex one, exploring levels of morality, to whom they should apply, and attempts, through characterization, to rationalize the sheer audacity of theorizing that wealth or intellectual status makes one person better than another.

Well done, director Kimberly Demmary. A solid cast and production.

The Rope continues through October 22. Performances on Friday and Saturday begin at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.www.OjaiACT.org has all the details.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Love At First Sight – Netflix

When Oliver (Ben Hardy) was young his family was surprised by his mother’s cancer diagnosis and that’s when he decided he never wanted to be surprised again, so began studying statistical analysis in the belief that with enough data everything would be predictable. While studying statistics at Yale he received the unfortunate news that after fourteen years in remission his mother’s cancer had come back and was asked to return home for an unusual living memorial.

Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) missed her flight to her father’s wedding in London, and usually her perpetual tardiness and uncharged phone led her to get into trouble but this day it led her to Oliver. She met Oliver while trying to charge her phone at a charging station, but with none available Oliver offered her his charger. They discovered they were on the same flight to London, and with a while until the flight departed decided to get something to eat together.

Time passed quickly and before they knew it they were almost late for their flight. Hadley was in business class (due to it being one of only two seats available on the next flight) but Oliver was in economy. As fate would have it, due to Oliver’s seat belt being broken he was moved to the only other seat available on the plane which was next to Hadley. Hadley was fearful of flying and grabbed Oliver’s hand during take off.

They spent seven hours on the plane learning about and falling for each other, and joked since they already had a meal the meal on the plane was their second date. Oliver charmed Hadley by wearing the pajamas provided in business class and they woke with the plane landing in London. Oliver gave Hadley his number outside customs but Hadley’s phone died before she could store the number, and was an hour in customs so when she came out Oliver was no where to be found.

Hadley called her father who arranged for her to get all setup, but during the wedding Hadley could only think about Oliver. When it was over Hadley overheard a couple of wedding guests talking about leaving to attend a memorial at Peckham House which seemed it could only have been for Oliver’s mother. Hadley decided to try to find Oliver, though she really had no idea where he was and headed out the door saying she’d be back for the reception in four hours.

The story then backs up at this point and tells it from the perspective of Oliver from the point at which they were separated at the airport. Oliver’s brother showed up in DJ gear and a music box, immediately drawn the attention of police and were asked to leave. They did so quickly and drove away in Luther’s big green sprinter van. The brothers visited, then changed into Shakespearean costumes for their mother’s unusual farewell living memorial where all her friends and family performed songs, dances and poetry in her honor.

Being reminded of his parent’s love by his mother’s speech, Oliver kept thinking of Hadley. Oliver spoke to his mother privately that he was upset that she was refusing treatment, but she didn’t want to go though needless suffering. When Oliver rejoined the party, Hadley was there and they hugged as if they had known each other forever. They visited out by the river but had a misunderstanding leaving both uncomfortable, so Hadley left but accidentally left her bag behind.

Hadley got lost and called her dad to come get her to take her to the reception while Oliver decided he needed to return Hadley’s bag, so the whole family loaded up in the van to find her. With fate appearing on their side thus far, would these seemingly destined lovers find each other.

Runtime: 1h 30m

by Shirley Lorraine

Actors Explore Asian Consciousness

The Elite Theater Company, housed in Channel Islands on Victoria Avenue, presents a tale on their South Stage of complex discussions surrounding heritage, typecasting and discrimination in Yankee Dawg, You Die written by Philip Kan Gotanda, directed by Jolyn Johnson. With just two actors, the play chronicles a chance meeting and ultimate long-term acquaintance between a neophyte Asian actor (Tae Ho Yoon) and one of his heroes, an accomplished seasoned and lauded Asian actor (Eric R. Umali).

Yoon’s character, Bradley Yamashita, questions how to represent the Asian community in a dignified way, while Umali’s Vincent Chang, having been around the business for years, has accepted the realities of “playing the game” to get roles. The disparity between them create the basic premise of the play.

The two verbally parry their way through two acts as they compare their differing views of the business of acting and theorize where and when the truth should be lines drawn in the sand.

The stage is not encumbered by set pieces. Physical movement is kept to a minimum as the rookie Bradley clings to his desire to “stay true” to his heritage but not be typecast. Chang also performs with an economy of movement, preferring to offer little in the way of sage advice, which Bradley clearly wants. The use of video reels on the back wall (well put together by up-and-coming cinematographer Wesley Umali) adds some much-needed insights into some of the conversation.

I feel that this play should be and could easily be condensed to a one-act play. The dialogue laboring over type-casting Asians in certain roles certainly can apply to any minority and the stereotypes with which actors are easily pigeon-holed. As Chang points out, however, an actor’s life is one of constant compromise. To ensure longevity, an actor must be flexible and willing/able to step beyond and take chances, a step that the idealist Bradley seems reluctant to embrace.

Umali is excellent as the staid Chang. Diction is clear, the voice carries well. His understated inflections are a work of art. Umali’s portrayal of the seasoned actor is quietly solid.

Yoon fared less well in the diction department, and I found it quite challenging to adapt to his accent and vocal pace. Much like his character, he will learn from his chosen master.

The conversation never seemed to reach a high point or reach out with any pearls of wisdom. It just went on. Several other aspects of the unlikely friendship between the characters were presented as hints but not fully explored, leaving more questions than answers.
Yankee Dawg You Die is the last play in Elite’s current season.

The theater will be presenting a spooky opportunity around Halloween and then will focus on the next season opening in January. Check their website frequently for updates and happenings.

Yankee Dawg You Die continues through October 1 with performance Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with one Thursday performance on September 28. www.theelite.org.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
A Million Miles Away – Prime Video

“A Million Miles Away” shares the true story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández (Michael Peña) on his quest from his childhood dream of being an astronaut to becoming the first migrant farm worker in space spending 13 days on the International Space Station. José‘s father shared with him at a young age that there were five key ingredients to achieving success in anything and José followed his father’s road map with unstoppable determination to eventually achieving what most would consider impossible.

According to José’s father, the first ingredient to success was to find your goal, and when José was seven years old he saw the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 on television and knew then that he wanted to be an astronaut. Around that same time, José‘s teacher Miss Young met with his parents expressing concern over their constant travel and his education knowing that he had some special gifts, even telling José he was a force of nature and to remember nothing will stop him. José‘s dad realized having his family work in the fields was not a good future, so they settled in Stockton, California where José grew up and graduated from the University of the Pacific.

The second Ingredient to success was to know how far you are from achieving your goal. In 1985 José got a job as a lab engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and began applying to the NASA program. He met his future wife Adela (Rosa Salazar) when buying a car, but she wanted to be a chef and supported José‘s goal to be an astronaut. José received a promotion at work and things were going well until Adela found a rejection letter, discovering he had applied to NASA six times without telling her. They agreed to work together to identify why he wasn’t getting in, identifying some key skills including working on building his body, learning Russian, as well as learning to fly and scuba dive.

José‘s father said the third ingredients to success was to draw a road map, which became easier now that he had identified what skills he needed to attain. He received a promotion and shortly after was assigned to go to Russia for six months where he learned Russian. He also went to flight school and got his pilot’s license as well as earning his diving credentials. After being denied 11 times, José went directly to NASA and found Commander Sturckow (Garret Dillahunt) to ask for a explanation about being rejected from the program. José shared all of his recent accomplishments and shortly after José received an acceptance letter from NASA.

The fourth ingredient for success according to José‘s father was if you don’t know how to learn how, so in 2003 José moved this family to new home in Selma just outside of the Johnson space center for NASA having been selected from tens of thousands for a rigorous training few pass. José rescued a teammate during a water training exercise which was recognized very highly by his by Struckow and also received much support from a female trainer named Kaipana Chawla (Sarayu Blue) who was a member of the next flight of the Columbia Space Shuttle which unfortunately blew up shortly after launch.

José was told ingredient number five was when you think you’ve made it you probably have to work harder. In 2008 José was chosen for the next shuttle launch as mission specialist number two on Space Shuttle Discovery piloted by Cmd Rick Struckow. Miss Young visited him before take off sharing José‘s drawing about his dream of becoming an astronaut she kept from when he was a child in her class. José’s shuttle mission STS-128 remained on board the International Space Station for 13 days, and José was the first migrant farm worker to have traveled into space.

Runtime: 2h 1m

by Shirley Lorraine

A Glimpse into Actor Training and Trials

Santa Paula Theater Center has once again brought a thought-provoking and unusual play to their main stage. The current production is Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker. The play garnered an Obie Award for Best New American Play in 2009. The title refers to a specific theater game used to prepare actors for the unexpected.

Set in the small town of Shirley, Vermont, the action takes place in a community room lined with mirrors. Five students have signed up to attend the multi-week acting class designed to help them open themselves to each other, to themselves, and to be adaptable to whatever comes their way as they embark on the adventure of being on stage.

Their reasons for attending vary greatly. Theresa (Shelby Dickinson) is already a professional actress but who feels a need to get back to basics after the end of a relationship. Shultz (James James) is newly divorced and feeling out of place both in the class and in the world. Lauren (Amber Shea Hodge) is a petulant 16-year-old with a few chips on each shoulder. James (William Hubbard) is married to Marty (Victoria McGee) who is leading the class. It is unclear whether he is there of his own accord or if he is there to support his wife. In any case, he participates willingly.

The play is a true ensemble piece. Each actor has spotlight moments before blending back into the group. The circle rotates with each player having their time to shine. All five participants struggle with different aspects of the theater games, reluctant to share too much with strangers and yet willing to play along, for the most part.

As they engage in verbal and physical games requiring thoughtful or quick responses, they each stumble before finally finding solid footing. As individuals, their personal circles also grow and shrink as they find ways to relate to each other.

A few audience members were overheard questioning what the actors were supposed to gain from the seemingly fruitless and repetitive exercises. The object of the games was often not apparent. If you haven’t been to an acting or improv class, this is foreign territory.

The repetitive nature, for me, created a plodding pace. Whether that was a directional choice or written to be so, I found myself thinking there should be more. There are moments when no actors are on stage and the audience is left looking at themselves in the mirrors. Intentional? If so, in my mind, that’s a deep stretch to ask an audience to make.

While each individual character showed a flash of depth, none were fleshed out enough to make me want to root for them. The playwright attempts to pull the whole thing together in the last moments, giving a glimpse ten years into the future as a “where are they now?” Honestly, it wasn’t enough for me to be engaged. But you may feel quite differently.

Circle of Transformation continues through October 8. www.santapaulatheatercenter.org.