REVIEW: DEEPLY AFFECTING “THE HUMANS” LAYS BARE SECRETS @ CHATHAM PLAYERS

by Ruth Ross

Holidays can be tough for many families, what with lively—often heated—political discussions; secrets kept and divulged; and scores to settle. Economic and social inequality, a raging case of post-9/11 PTSD and stiff religiosity produce the fraught situation faced by the Blake family at the center of Stephen Karam’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning comic drama, The Humans, now onstage at the Chatham Playhouse.

This particular Thanksgiving takes place at the run-down Manhattan duplex apartment in Chinatown shared by aspiring musician Brigid Blake and her boyfriend Richard. Brigid's parents, Erik and Deirdre, have arrived from their home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, along with older daughter Aimee, a lawyer living in Philadelphia who has recently broken up with her girlfriend and has developed an intestinal ailment. Also present is Erik's mother Fiona, called "Momo," who has Alzheimer's disease. Over the course of the day, Erik and Dierdre express their unhappiness at their daughters’ leaving home, abandoning their Catholicism and leading “untraditional lives.” As the dinner progresses, the family deals with aging, illness and a changing economy, the latter of which has left the blue collar Blakes in dire financial straits. (Above, Emily Miller, Sarah Pharoan, Jeff Maschi, Noreen Farley, Matt McCarthy and Marguerite Wurtz)

Karam’s finely drawn characters are, above all, human beings, with all their hopes, dreams and disappointments. Superbly directed by Chase Newhart, six talented actors portray their personas with wit, heart and sympathy. No one is a villain, nor is anyone an angel. Jeff Maschi (right) is angst personified, running his hands nervously through his longish hair and jumping at every noise produced by the Chinese woman who lives upstairs. It doesn’t help that he was in a nearby coffee shop when the Twin Towers fell—that the observation deck hadn’t yet opened saved his life, if not his sanity.

Noreen Farley as Dierdre picks at her daughter’s living conditions, much as any mother would at seeing this dark “duplex” apartment Brigid has rented. And her strict Catholic upbringing and faith leaves no room for cohabitation before marriage, as she makes clear several times during the day. Sarah Pharoan is superb as Aimee, grieving the loss of her girlfriend and suffering from intestinal distress. And Marguerite Wurtz’s portrayal of Momo (left, with Farley)has flashes of humor, along with the frustration engendered by caring for a dementia patient. Despite sleeping through much of the action, she’s very convincing!

That leaves the young couple, Brigid and Richard. Emily Miller is chirpy as Brigid, determined to impress her family with her ability to “make it” in New York, yet there’s an undercurrent of failure under that cheeriness. Trained as a musician, she’s working as a bartender. Post-college, she has left Scranton behind, forgetting her blue-collar antecedents so far behind that she is unaware of the effect that Richard has a trust fund will have on her “salt-of-the-earth” Irish parents. As for Richard, Matt McCarthy portrays him as a bit of a loser too, despite that trust fund: At 38, after a long bout of clinical depression, he’s gone back to school to study social work.

The emotional landmines hidden in that Chinatown apartment explode in Karam’s literate, witty (but not precious) script. Roy Pancirov has designed a two-story set (right) that mimics the one at the Roundabout Theatre, the play’s original venue. Drab walls, dankness, a treacherous spiral staircase echo the futility and sadness of the characters’ lives. Joe DeVico’s sound—lots of unexpected thuds and machine noises—further convey the emptiness of these people’s lives. Richard Hennessy and Fran Harrison are to be commended for atmospheric and appropriate lighting and costumes, respectively.

To Karam’s credit, the play doesn’t end “happily ever after.” We really don’t know what happens to these people; we just know that life is filled with success and failure, that events are many times out of our control. The courage shown by the Blakes and Richard lies in laying bare their souls and facing the demons that they face. To sum up The Humans in one word: This is one of the most honest plays I’ve seen in a long while. You have only two more weekends to see it.

The Humans will be performed at the Chatham Playhouse, 23 N. Passaic Ave., Chatham, through October 19. For information and tickets, call 973.635.7363 or visit www.chathamplayers.org online.

REVIEW: TAUT “PSYCHODRAMA” REVEALS WHAT LIES BENEATH THE FACADE WE SHOW OTHERS AND OURSELVES

By Ruth Ross

When going through a divorce, many people find group therapy helpful, the idea being that through leader-guided conversation, members of the group can help each other deal with the death of a marriage. Another way to help people about to be divorced, psychodrama is an experimental form of therapy that uses dramatic re-enactment to explore issues identified by the group, to empower the individual involved and find an alternate way to deal with psychological problems. Of course, such therapy is best guided by a trained professional; in the hands of an untrained leader, havoc can result. (Above, Laura Ekstrand, Becca Landis McLarty, Julian Blake Gordon and Harriett Trangucci listen as Harry Patrick Christian sings “The Age of Aquarius.”)

This latter is the premise of the comedy drama, aptly named Psychodrama, by Montclair playwright Phoebe Farber now receiving its world premiere at the Oakes Center by Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre.

The plot involves a divorce group that is suddenly left stranded when their leader quits halfway through the program. Luckily, Barb has agreed to be the new group leader. Her unorthodox techniques initially upset the quartet, but they eventually find that being off balance might just lead to a new understanding of their relationships.

Director Betsy True moves the plot steadily through the 90-minute duration, eliciting stellar performances from the five cast members humanize and make more sympathetic their distasteful behavior. Becca Landis McLarty’s chirpy, always upbeat Mel is almost too good to be true, that is, until she reveals the truth about the break-up of her marriage. As 28-year-old Chuck, Julian Blake Gordon is sardonically flippant at first, but as the psychodrama peels away his façade, we see a young man more troubled by his relationship with his father than by the demise of his marriage. Laura Ekstrand’s “rage machine,” bullying Syl (above, with Dave) is so brittle and uptight that we fear she might break down before our eyes—she’s that unsympathetic—but she rises to the occasion when she reveals her situation and the group ultimately finds itself without a leader. And Harry Patrick Christian’s Dave is a good-hearted schlub trying to win back his wife who wants out but won’t leave the house. When he finally gets some nerve to confront her, we want to cheer his success.

And finally, Harriett Trangucci  is once more superb as a rather ditsy Barb (above, explaining psychodrama), full of good cheer and optimism, distributing scarves and engaging the group in trust exercises. Trangucci is terrific at portraying such characters, digging deep below the wackiness to reveal a woman who so much wants something more than the life she now has that she resorts to deceit, a move that could wreak havoc with the psyches of the group members.

Dave Maulbeck’s set, a dreary all-purpose room in a Unitarian Church basement, casts a pall over the group meetings. Zack Pizza’s lighting adds to the appropriate dinginess, and Jeff Knapp’s sound features music suitable to each scene that charts the group’s progress (“Celebration” and “The Age of Aquarius” are just two). The costumes by Olivia Mastrangelo give expression to each character’s personality, with a jacket and briefcase for Dave, scarves and leggings for Mel, a slacker tee shirt and jeans for Chuck, more structured attire for Syl and bohemian dress for the free-spirited Barb.

That Phoebe Farber is herself a psychotherapist lends sober veracity to the play, but she sure has an ear for the humor often present in fraught situations in dialogue that shouldn’t be funny but is when delivered with flippant irony by this group of very talented actors. Psychodrama gives us a glimpse of the human beings behind the disguise we often don to fool others—or ourselves. As these characters reveal their true selves, our own attitudes toward them change, giving us a clue about how to understand and deal with real people in our own lives and help them (and us) to successfully and honestly deal with life-altering events. Dreamcatcher Rep’s Psychodrama entertains and enlightens us, and isn’t that the goal of good theater? (Above: The group practices a “trust” exercise.)

Psychodrama will be performed at the Oakes Center, 120 Morris Avenue, Summit, through March 3. This is the final weekend, so you’ll want to reserve tickets by calling 908.5784.9654 or visiting www.dreamcatcherrep.org online.

Photos by Joseph Sbarro.