Collapse in Judgment

This weekend, I went to see a new play called Collapse, being performed at the Curious Theater Company here in Denver. The play is making its "world premiere," though this is something of a technicality, as the play has been performed in at least one other city before (and has since undergone some rewrites).

In any case, it's very much a new play, concerning itself with new topics. Playwright Allison Moore has melded the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota with the recent economic recession, peppered it with characters whose lives are falling apart in a variety of ways, and presented a one-act play on the theme of "collapse."

The play is fundamentally dramatic, but sweetened with a healthy dose of humor. At the performance I saw, the jokes were landing very well with a laughing, receptive audience. The two secondary characters in this four-character tale were particularly effective at serving up laughs. The dramatic elements of the play felt a little rougher around the edges. The main characters are a married couple dealing with a variety of problems. The woman is a rather one-note, highly strung control freak on a fairly superficial journey to "learn to let go." The man is a survivor of the bridge collapse, suffering from PTSD. The character works on the page, I think, but works toward such an amped up, adrenaline fueled climax that I think it would take a rare actor to truly pull it off.

The cast of this production is pretty good as a unit. The strongest link is Michael Morgan, who plays the sex-addicted Ted. I mentioned that the comedic elements of the script work best, but Morgan elevates them even beyond that, delivering a performance that's both funny and layered.

The set is a neat blend of literal and metaphorical, with a bridge running over the living room of the main characters. The staging within that space, though, was quite distracting to me. No one in this play seemed capable of sitting on a chair or sofa in a normal fashion, and on occasion would even walk on them -- which should have driven the control freak character nuts.

My good friend was the stage manager of the production, which is how it came to my attention, and I once again was glad to enjoy her work. She'll often regale me with stories of rehearsal and backstage drama, no hint of which ever seems to show up on her stage. Pat on the back for you!

Collapse runs one more weekend, if you're here in the Denver area and want to check it out. I think I'd still like to see a few more script revisions in it overall, but it nevertheless is an entertaining play that carries a good message without getting overly pretentious. I'd grade it a B.