Tracy Michelle Arnold

IRT presents ‘Folks’ in a comic situation

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

The situation comedy, a/k/a sitcom, is primarily an American invention, and in its many settings often reflects an aspect of the American Dream. But put something that could be made into a TV pilot on a stage with no cameras – just the live audience – and you find that the difference between a “Full House” and “A Raisin in the Sun” becomes little more than the laugh track.

This is the genre-testing approach of R. Eric Thomas’s “The Folks at Home,” in its second-ever production, presented by Indiana Repertory Theatre (its premiere was in Baltimore, where the story is set).

Young married couple Brandon and Roger (Garrett Young and Keith Illidge) are hitting what could be a rough patch. The big house they bought is changing from a wise investment to a burden as Roger has trouble finding a job; still, Brandon has things budgeted so they can stay until they sell the house – which Roger privately doesn’t want to do. Also, the ghost put the mail in the refrigerator again.

While Brandon’s at work, Roger’s parents Pamela and Vernon (Oliva D. Dawson and Sean Blake) arrive, informing him that their house is in foreclosure, and they are going to have to move in. Later, Brandon’s says-whatever’s-in-her-head mother Maureen (Tracy Michelle Arnold) shows up, stating that since she’s between jobs and living situations, her son said she could move in. Then the “maid” Alice (Claire Wilcher) abruptly arrives to clean off the dust and bad vibes.

As they say in the biz, hilarity ensues.

It’s interesting to guess all the possible classic sitcom influences jammed into this play – “Odd Couple,” “All in the Family,” “Jeffersons,” “Roseanne/Conners,” “Ghosts,” “Modern Family,” you name it – but that would be a disservice to Thomas and director Reggie D. White. In this homage to problems that work out in half an hour of wholesome humor, we see what happens when the issues don’t stop when the theme song kicks back in. Just as many teleplays are based on lived experiences in family homes, this fictional family sees things getting real between the quippy one-liners and odd misunderstandings.

Even with the ever-lurking drama, there are some belly-laugh comic moments, including the always-awkward “family meeting,” and the arrival in Act 2 of Wilcher as Brandon’s very pregnant sister Brittany, eager to dispense her “crock-pot” wisdom. The cast give us unique characters that still suggest archetypes – Maureen a bit Archie Bunker, Vernon a bit George Jefferson, Brandon and Roger like pals of Will and Grace – which like those personae keep them relatable to folks we know or people we’ve been. Given more than a half-hour for the plot to play out, it’s like binging a short season’s arc (complete with Intermission for a break) to see how all the storylines resolve. Funny, uplifting, and NOT available on Netflix or any other streaming service. Catch “The Folks at Home” at the IRT, 140 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, through March 16. Get tickets and information at irtlive.com.

IRT: Homecoming brings hard questions in stand-alone ‘sequel’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

Regarding “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” I must first note – as others have – that you absolutely do not have to have seen or read the original Henrik Ibsen play to appreciate this follow-up by American Lucas Hnath. I read it in college, and about all I remember about it is the essential fact that Nora feels her life is too suffocating to bear any longer, and at the end of the play she boldly exits through the front door to go live her own life.

That’s about all you need to know, and that in doing so she also abandoned her husband, Torvald, and their children – an ending nearly as shocking now as it was in 1879. These facts are thoroughly reviewed in the scenes of “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” the Broadway hit now on the main stage of the Indiana Repertory Theatre.

It is 15 years later (1894) and there is a knock at the front door of Torvald Helmer’s house. The housekeeper, Anne Marie (Kim Staunton), answers to find it is Nora (Tracy Michelle Arnold), who has lived a full and successful life in the intervening years. But suddenly Nora has the need to take care of unfinished business with Torvald (Nathan Hosner). Amid a whirlwind of emotion, he tells her the resolution of their business will not be so easy. Nora then turns to Emmy (Becca Brown), the daughter she hardly knows, who has her own feelings regarding women’s independence, as well as the reasons why no one will end this visit unscathed.

Needless to say, this is some intense drama, but punctuated with moments of situational humor. Hnath’s play also connects to us through the use of contemporary speech (appropriate, considering that to be “authentic” everything would have been said in Norwegian). Director James Still said that at various points the dialogue read like a lecture, so, often the actors would seem to speak directly to the audience. To aid this, the stage front appears to thrust forward towards the seats.

Thus do Nora, Torvald, Emmy and Anne Marie bridge the 125-year gap to show us the issues of gender and family they struggled with then, which are still not perfectly resolved now. What Nora could do as a single woman, contrasted with being married, reminds me of how it wasn’t that long ago that American women couldn’t open credit card accounts without their husbands’ signatures. And what a better future could be differs for each person – Nora ecstatically desires a 20th century where marriage is abolished; Emmy, preparing her own wedding, greets that notion with horror. And Torvald gives his side of the story, providing even more rich food for thought.

Performances are solid, from Hosner’s overwhelmed gentleman to Brown’s confident air, to the ever-shifting facade Arnold puts forward as events unfold. Staunton is the proud patience-wearing-thin mother figure, just wanting things to resolve as well as possible.

Don’t let the title dissuade you; this is no mere sequel. Performances run through April 7 at the IRT, 140 W. Washington St. in downtown Indianapolis (near Circle Centre). Call 317-635-5252 or visit irtlive.com.