Bob’s Works

WHY I LIKE IT:   Drama Editor JANET EHRLICH COLSON writes…

This play isn’t going to be for  everyone but if you can stomach it, it’s extraordinary. I’m not one for trigger warnings, and c’mon, if you’re reading Fleas on the dog, you’ve gotta have some thick skins, so I’ll just let you take off the kid gloves and read at your own risk.  The soldiers in this story have been through hell. They speak of unspeakable things.  They use unspeakable language.  They are both damned and damaged.  Their mothers are left to reconciles themselves with their son’s traumas as well as their own – and we’re along for the ride.  The play hits a level of outrage and outrageousness that could cause a laughing fit at a funeral.  For all its aspirations to show the human condition modern theatre is in danger of tilting into the PC and the palatable.  Not this!  Fuck that noise.  One wishes the language and situations in this drama were merely relegated to the stage and less tolerated off of it.  That said, a production of this play needs to be handled with care.  One false step, and the whole thing could explode, and we’re talking IED’s PTSD, the whole bit. Therapy not included. FIVE STARS! 

AMERICAN INHERITANCE

In a private clinical study, a Doctor interviews a retired military man who is haunted by the memories of a secretive criminal act he committed years before.  Interviewing the friends and family who hid the crime, the Doctor re-creates 30 years of memories, lies, and cover-ups. All interviews interlink and reveal the retired man’s tragic abuse of male entitlement and everyone’s terrifying complicity.

Reflecting the #MeToo, #TimesUp movement, a terrific Industry Reading by TONY Award Winning Producer-Michael Rubinstein (PIPPIN, ON THE TOWN) and director Nathaniel Shaw went wonderfully.  Tom Wopat led the stellar cast that included the amazing Angelica Page, Kathy Searle, Luke Robertson, Joe Urla, and Amy Rutberg.  There were standing ovations for both readings! Thank you to that glorious cast! Stay tuned for  future production information!

New Play Network

A MEMORY PLAY

STAGE BUZZ.COM

Review by Byrne Harrison

On Easter Sunday in 1947, Steve (Artie Ray), a cocky young G.I., married Judy (Susan Izatt) a Southern belle. What followed could best be described as a train wreck of lies, alcoholism, and the psychological damage that comes a dysfunctional family. 

Many years later, Kip (Trey Albright), Judy and Steve’s playwright son, attempts to undo the damage by writing a memory play about that fateful Easter, but this time, he is determined to keep his parents from marrying. Although he is the playwright and they are merely characters in his play, Judy and Steve are not going to let their past change so easily. As they put up a fight, Kip is forced to jump into the action, playing a range of supporting characters and occasionally taking over Judy and Steve’s roles in an effort to keep things on track. While Kip may not end up with the commercial success that he set out to create, he does gain a great deal of insight into his parent’s doomed relationship, the sacrifice that all relationships demand, and more importantly, a better sense of how his behavior relates to the lessons he learned from Judy and Steve. Acknowledging that his parents’ past does not control his future, he lets go of the resentment and takes control of his life. 

Bob Stewart’s A Memory Play is an interesting look at relationships, the lies that abound in them, and the collateral damage they do later on. It’s also a subtle send up of memory plays and the inelegant way that they are wielded by earnest playwrights who dream of writing the next The Glass Menagerie. Meaning of course Kip, not Mr. Stewart, who has written a funny and poignant piece. 

Susan Izatt’s work as Judy, the prim and proper Southern lady with a remarkably big secret in her past is particularly strong. While it could be easy to reduce the role to a Blanche Du Bois knock-off, she gives Judy depth. Albright’s work as Kip, the narrator and playwright, is good, though he most easily seems to inhabit the role of Rydell, Judy’s flamboyant gay friend. As Rydell is mocked by Steve for being effeminate, Albright shows Rydell’s dignity while also showing Kip’s hurt. Though he knows his father came to terms with his homosexuality, Kip can’t help feeling insulted by Steve’s treatment of Rydell. Albright plays this ambivalence well. Artie Ray’s character work as Steve is solid, especially in scenes where he goes from being a cocky 20-something G.I. to being the older version of himself dealing with the fallout of the relationship. 

A Memory Play is an interesting re-imagining of a familiar genre. The first play in a trilogy called The Marriage Variations, it leaves the audience interested in seeing what else Bob Stewart has up his sleeve. 

Show Business Weekly 

Review by Kristin Forte 

A Memory Play is a fantastic dark comedy that examines the inner workings of familial relationships. 

The cast of three is small but extremely talented. Trey Albright is excellent as Kip, a struggling playwright who imagines a change in history by rewriting his parents’ wedding night so that they don’t get married. Albright gives a quirky and realistic performance as a gay man who is exploring his parents’ relationship while sporadically divulging information about his private life (though he wittily stresses, “This is not a gay play”). 

The play focuses on the night before Kip’s parents, Judy and Steve, tie the knot. Susan Izatt is outstanding as Judy, a Southern belle harboring secrets, and Artie Ray gives a strong performance as Steve, a hunky and emotionally closed-off soldier. 

The play bounces around at a quick pace and leaves viewers wanting more. Kip sits on the side of the stage throughout the production, serving as the omniscient narrator. With no fourth wall, he constantly interrupts the action to correct or replace dialogue and makes jokes and observations to the audience. 

Judy and Steve shift back and fourth through time, from their wedding night in 1947 to later, poignant moments in their relationship with their son. They go against his script several times, causing him to enter the scene and take their place or portray additional characters (Albright is hilarious as Rydell, Judy’s sweet and flamboyant buddy). 

Playwright Bob Stewart’s quick and witty script tells a frank tale that is brought to another level by Gary Levinson’s keen direction. Although we often insist that we would do things differently if given the chance to relive the past, A Memory Play suggests that things happen the way they must. It is a simple play that turns out to be a funny, genuine and thought-provoking production. 

New Play Network