Asha Nataraj and Michael Houston (Photo by Paul Davis)
Reviewed by Nola Bowie
Loft Ensemble
Through Nov. 10
RECOMMENDED
“None of us know what’s gonna happen next,” states Vince (Matt Lorenzo), upon discussing the health condition of neighborhood leader, Red. In the world premiere of summertime, an interlude, playwright Aniello Fontano paints a delicate picture of how one tight-knit community handles ambition, betrayal, and rapid change on the hottest day of the summer. Directed by Dayo Ade at Sawyer’s Playhouse (Loft Ensemble), the play runs just over 2 hours and depicts how mind-blowingly stressful waiting for news can be.
It is the morning of a 98-degree day in a working class neighborhood of Chicago, and eccentric local radio hosts/narrators Trigg (Asha Nataraj) and Kyri (Michael Houston) report that last night, the community’s beloved deli owner, Red, was shot and robbed, landing him in the hospital. Above Red’s deli is an apartment complex: living there is David (Sean Alan Mazur), his sister Windy (Ritzi Lanier), and family friends Vince and Syd (Elena Nicholson). David, a sullen young man, has recently gotten out of prison. Because he was convicted at a young age, he is just now getting used to what the world around him has become, with the help of his raunchy younger sister, Windy, and his idealistic friend and love interest, Syd. Vince, David’s unofficial older brother, is far more sociable, but uses his sense of humor to conceal his true emotions, thus further raising the stakes of the play. Over the course of one day, Red fights for his life in the hospital, and the rest of the neighborhood battles with the overwhelming dread of the unknown and comes face to face with a test that will determine how tight-knit their community really is.
While many features of the production stuck out to me, it is the performances that make the show what it is. Mazur, Lanier, and Nicholson portray their characters with solid compassion and intensity, but the real standout performance here is Lorenzo’s Vince. Lorenzo manages to balance clean-cut comedic timing and honest dramatic work with remarkable ease, and his character’s limbo of providing comic relief to his stressed friends while simultaneously dealing with his own harrowing circumstances (such as debt and his hospitalized daughter) is an appealing watch. Cut between the scenes in the apartment complex are small exchanges and monologues performed by Nataraj and Houston, who have unbeatable chemistry not only with one another, but with the quirky yet sharp dialogue as well.
However, although most of the dialogue shines, the script finds itself lost in exposition a few times: there is a handful of instances where it feels as though the characters are trying hard to get the audience up to speed with what is going on in the play, but other than that, it is neatly organized and well-paced.
As for the show’s technical direction, Matthew Scheel’s bold lighting choices were slightly jarring in the beginning, but I got used to them quickly, especially with the help of Tor Brown and Bree
Pavey’s polished yet lived-in scenic design.
While the circumstances of the play may seem incredibly specific, don’t let it scare you; the combination of Fontano’s writing and Ade’s direction makes sure that summertime, an interlude has something for everyone. Through thoughtful depictions of familial tension, the ongoing battle between class and optimism, tattoo removals, and Dolly Parton, this production builds a realistic yet intriguing portrayal of how one small group deals with change.
Loft Ensemble, Sawyer’s Playhouse, 11031 Camarillo Street, NoHo; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 7 pm; thru Nov. 10. https://loftensemble.org
