After Brian Tuttle and 11:11 Theatre Company’s holiday season offering, The Three (Un)Wise Men, I was apprehensive about my trip to The Factory Theatre for Tuttle’s newest tale, Foreverendia.  The Three (Un)Wise Men wasn’t a BAD show, in fact, I gave it a pretty good overall review, but it wasn’t a pithy thing, and it relied a lot more on one-liners and goofy stage business than it did on good solid writing.  I was terrified when I read the description of Foreverendia as I noted it was going to be told from a children’s perspective and had a bit of a coming-of-age feel to it.  Would it be too lascivious?  Would it lack sensitivity?  Would I end up feeling like I was watching a bunch of grown-ups running around pretending to be parodies of little kids?  No.  No, no, and no.  In fact.  Tuttle and his skeleton crew of a production team, paired with six refined actors, produced one of the most tender and thoughtful pieces I have seen in 2010.

Foreverendia opened with a bare stage that was quickly turned into a playful wonderland with umbrellas, blankets, pillows and paper stars.  Stuffed animals, gadgets, ladders and coat stands filled in for furniture and props.  The colorful landscape included mountains, forests, rivers and desert, exactly as a pre-teen would imagine it.  The audience is quickly introduced to Nim and Bailey, two girls who have escaped their homes through the chimney after an unexpected snow storm covers the land.  The girls bond on the rooftop and promise to be friends, in the sweet and innocent way that children do, by agreeing to it as if they were trading toys, not emotions.  The pair are joined by young Lawrence, and mysterious, ageless Babbles and spend many days and nights trading the reality of their home-lives for the comfort and adventure of Foreverendia.  Like all good fantasies, though, their bliss is only short lived, as their parent’s flaws and shortcomings creep into the make-believe until facing them is unavoidable.  The tragic result of this climax caught me completely off guard, and definitely brought a tear to my eye.

The excellent cast played their characters with wit and sensitivity.  From softly innocent Bailey, played with spot-on clarity by Louise Hamill, to adventurous and troubled Nim, who Robyn Linden embodied with an extraordinary sparkle of youth and creativity, to sensitive and shy Lawrence, the humble everyman played perfectly by Evan Quinlan and impish Babbles who Noah Tobin characterized fully, from playful voice to joyful, dance-like movement.  The quartet could not have been better suited for each other and had both good timing and good chemistry.  Each one of the audience members could identify themselves or their loved ones in the youthful intentions of the characters.  I was touched by each.  Lizette M. Morris and Renee Donlon had the incredibly difficult task of playing adults in this fantasy world, and each brought a wonderful and sophisticated treatment to their role.  I loved both women’s different manifestations of adulthood.

As a world premiere, Tuttle should be proud of how touching and lyrical Foreverendia was as a whole.  My faith has been completely affirmed by him as a playwright.  Of course, with any premiere, there are kinks to work out, the end of act one, scene, for example, was slow and could easily be cut down to a more exciting and dramatic conclusion of the act, and the length, in general, of a lot of the scenes, could use a trim.  And while I enjoyed the Pan-like whimsy of Babbles, I didn’t quite get who he was and how he was connected to the children- he seemed to be ageless (he never wore shoes) and never spoke of his parents.  I wanted to know more about him- or perhaps less.  It was so exciting to get to talk about this show with my companion after the performance.  We had a lot to say; the mark, I would argue, of a great show.  One last thing, a thousand compliments to Erin Murray for her absolutely beautiful sound design for the show.  The evocative, eerie melodies were a thing of beauty and made this production complete.  Bravo, 11:11.

True love’s first kiss?

11:11 Theatre Company is a current resident of Mass Ave’s own Factory Theatre, an oppressively large loft complex housing a tiny, but neat, black box performance space- with limited seating (49), limited heating (brr), and limited resources (claustrophobic little booth, no access to bathrooms for the actors!) but 11:11 makes the space pleasant and inviting.  This fresh-faced little company has only been on the scene since 2005, when it moved to Boston from Ohio and has consistently provided the audience with tender but tenacious productions.  They dare to be different with regional debuts and under-represented playwrights, sometimes with fantastic results, sometimes, well, lessons in faith and courage.  11:11 Theatre Company’s The Three (Un)Wise Men is rowdy, bawdy, and fun.

Brian Tuttle’s clever little tale is a retelling of the biblical story of the Three Wise Men,  with some pretty serious modifications.  Each “king” is no more than a simple townsman; from dim-witted Caspar, to the violent yet misunderstood thief, Balthasar, to portly Malchior, student of everything from food to the stars.  The motley crew go on a most nefarious journey to obtain wealth so that Balthasar might win the hand of his one true love, Yeetel.  They visit a leper colony, a whorehouse, and fall victim to the trappings of King Herod before reaching Bethlehem and ultimately, the son of God himself.  Along the way they are visited by a host of characters, played with gusto by the small ensemble.  The show is a little rough around the edges, but that is to be expected of a world premiere, and the language is enough to make anyone cringe- but the message is a good one and I defy anyone to not have a smile on their face when they leave the theatre.

I’ve been in many a production at the Factory Theatre and served on the production crew of another half dozen more, so I know the limitations of the space, and one of them is how intimate the actors get with the audience.  Steps away, we can see every line and every sweat stain, and the wonderful cast did a great job of putting us at ease by being so comfortable with themselves.  The three leads strip down into underwear mere inches away from snickering teens and blue haired old ladies.  Greggory Daniels shines as Caspar.  I wanted to embrace him almost from his first line, throughout the story he anchored the audience into a place of love and devotion.  John Greene’s Balthasar is a great brute of a man, clomping around the stage with little regard for his companions- and though Greene got himself into an extremely predictable repetitive vocal pattern for most of the show (I’d describe it as “shouty sing-song”) there were lovely moments of nuisance thrown in to balance out the overall effect.  Danhai Jackson stole the show as Malchior.  With a seemingly endless supply of fruit and treats sewn into his robes, his mouth was almost always full, and his easy gentle way was infectious as he continued to heap on the different schools he is an eager student of.  A good, old time philosopher trapped in the body of a would-be thief, he’s the most fun to watch.  The beautiful Rebecca Mae Davis embodies the entire female ensemble, from shrewish Yeetel to the beautiful and Supine Shiva, and she gives a good flavor to each.  The ensemble is rounded out by Sam Perry and Ethan Scott who wear many hats; leper bandages, laurel leaves, and soldier helmets- and keep the audience guessing.  Both gave fun and fitful performances.

Besides the fact that someone should look into the light transition between the first and second scenes (holy cow that was a bright light!  You might try that one at 75?) the production crew did a very nice job of bringing the desert land to life.

I noticed the show started on the 11^th of the month, is that a coincidence, 11:11?  Because I found it rather clever. You should definitely  take credit for it even if it’s not on purpose.  This is a fun little show and they still have a week left of performances.  It isn’t a good one for the kiddies, but it would be a fun way for some grown-ups to spend a night as we march on towards our own Holiday stars.

The Three “Wise” Men offer their gifts.

There is something so refreshing about a new work.  An audience member has the opportunity to experience a production without any preconceived notion or bias.  There is a certain honor that comes with being the first audience to put breath into a play- it is as if the audience has been charged with deciding what is funny, what is touching- what is terrible.  11:11 Theatre Company’s production of An Evening of Almost gave the audience the chance to do this- nine times over.  With plays that ranged from hysterical to haunting, the evening was full of first experiences for actors, playwrights, and audience members alike.
Entering the small studio on the upper level of the Calderwood Pavilion, a bare room was decorated with four pieces of masonite on the floor, and one wooden cube, all sorely in need of a fresh coat of paint.  Chairs lined all four walls, an intimate seating for no more than 50.  My companion and I took a front row seat on the side of the playing space, and the small house quickly filled up.  Upon the commencement of the curtain speech it was obvious that we were surrounded by some of the production’s key players- directors and playwrights, it added an enjoyable, palpable excitement to a relatively bare space.  As soon as the lights went down, however, the minimal stage was immediately transformed.  The set pieces were artfully and quickly arranged; each set transition was smooth, fast, and seemingly effortless.  In a scenario where actors are also crew, this is especially impressive.
As the title of this piece suggests, each of the nine plays was selected (out of four hundred submissions!) to explore the idea of “almost” in one way or another.  I was extremely interested in how something so abstract might be handled in nine separate plays.  Because working with the theme was a requirement of submission, I was ready to experience nine very clear and distinct choices.  I found though, that some of the plays did a better job of this than others.  “Morning Coffee” by Beth Kander is a brief encounter with a couple newly charged with dealing with a miscarriage (almost a baby), which was heartbreaking and frustrating, but disturbingly effective when the “almost” involved is an actual life.  “Struck” by J. Stephen Brantley, the only production of the night to feature more than two characters, frames the relationship of three people after one suffers a stroke and partial paralysis (almost fully functioning).  It does an amazing job of touching a range of emotion that centers on the theme- each of the characters experiencing “almost” in their own, private way.  Other pieces, “Enimatic Lucidity” by Len Cuthbert, “Happily Ever After” by Peter Cavell, and “The Day that Brando Died” by Lawrence Dukore, had subtle references to the “almost” theme though the choices either directorially or within the play itself made them less clear.  A handful of others did not do quite as well thematically. Despite being well written, Judd Silverman’s “Gallery Afternoon” doesn’t seem to have anything to do with “almost”, nor does the equally interesting, “Make It a Good One” by Elisabeth Burdick.  “Rrrr Argh Blech” (an annoyingly disinteresting title) by Valerie Work, and “Something Went Wrong” by Matt Casarino absolutely did not connect the theme of almost with the audience.  While I enjoyed Casarino’s amusing concept, I found his dialog to be weak, contrived, and ultimately forced- and without a purpose in this cycle of plays.  Work’s piece may have been visually beautiful (and very well directed by Carolyn Blais), but it didn’t “say” anything at all.
I didn’t expect to go into a night of nine separate plays and come out liking all nine of them, but I did expect to see some great performances, and 11:11 Theatre Company delivered with several standout actors.  Dmitriy Molchanov was absolutely fantastic in both “Enigmatic Lucidity” and “Morning Coffee”, and Renee Rossi Donlon, Brian Tuttle and Jonathan Rousseau were a fantastic ensemble, not to mention all equally strong individually (there is no question that “Struck” was my favorite piece, a cut above the rest).  It was a long shot that I would become emotionally invested in the characters of any ten minute play, but by the end of “Struck” my heart was absolutely won over.  It was a sophisticated and full of dramatic tension throughout.  The “fight” choreography was superb- I think I actually audibly gasped.  Jeffrey Phillips and Murray Wheeler also gave a great performance in “The Day Brando Died” and it was refreshing to see a pair of age-appropriate, experienced actors among a cast of many much younger ensemble members.  There were so many shows to think about, and so many elements to consider, I would never be able to touch on all the points that came up throughout the evening.  Each show was performance was thoughtfully crafted and solidly (if not excellently) acted, and the actors gave a wonderful foundation for the audience to be able to focus on the content of the plays themselves.
I absolutely enjoyed my evening (of almost) with the 11:11 Theatre Company. I love their mission of trying to produce funny, intimate, and wildly entertaining plays with reasonable ticket prices.  I am extremely interested to see what new works they will be presenting in their upcoming season, and am looking forward to adding them into my theatrical rotation.

Brian Tuttle and Renee Donlon in “Struck”