How I loved it, let me count the ways
Even with the help of a thesaurus, it is difficult to find the right words to express how amazing Script Tease was. Amazingissimo? Seriously Annex’s Research and Development’s off night “project” was quite unbelievable. First of all there was the process, which was truly intriguing.
Take a talented playwright, have her write six pages of a play for six actors, then let the actors complete the rest of the play by improvisation. The end product-a 90 minute performance- was as hilariously funny, fast-paced, witty and polished as any play. Laughter erupted on average about every 30 seconds as the actors moved the plot right along, developed their characters, while establishing great rapport with the audience.
Stellarissimo was how I would describe the actors, especially Britney Barber, who played a number of roles but primarily that of Fiona, a petulant 13 year-old pubescent teenage girl. Her ability to come up with some great one-liners totally spontaneously made me hope that someone was recording the play, so that her contribution to the dialogue could be printed up. As a detective, who investigates the disappearance of Fiona’s father, Kesan Holt was an endearingly wacky combination of Dragnet and Andy Griffin, with great facial expressions.
A lot of credit also has to go to the sound and light operator Mario Gomez, because he managed to spot-light the actors whenever they needed; perhaps they had agreed on a special signal, but it looked just as if it had been rehearsed.
The original six pages by Seayoung Yim, provided a great jumping off point for the rest of the “play,” interesting characters, conflict, setting and some very juicy dialogue in an all too familiar situation: A perfect suburban set-up with an heiress wife, a husband, who is overly demonstrative in his devotion, but predictably is quite the philanderer.
Seeing this on Tuesday May 9, when I felt like Watergate II was beginning (Trump had just fired the FBI director and the scandal about Hizzona) so there was nothing better than to have a good laugh.
On Wednesday May 10, another six page play will be presented to the same six actors and it will all start again. It is more than worth it. Annex’s off night shows are a great mid-week break. The show gets out early, there are plenty of restaurants nearby in the Pike/Pine corridor, and laughter is a universal antidote for all life’s miseries. Even Trump.
Script Tease Research and Development Wing. Annex Theatre. 1100 E. Pike. Seattle 98122 ( Corner 11th and E. Pike, Capitol Hill, Pike/Pine Corridor) Wed. May 10 7:30 pm
Tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10151136 . Info: www.Annextheatre.org