Evangeline Edwards, Suzen Baraka (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
Rogue Machine
Through Oct. 13
RECOMMENDED
A Good Guy, receiving its world premiere production at Rogue Machine, opens with the main character Anna (Evangeline Edwards) sitting in black, with a tight spotlight on her as she talks enthusiastically about her love for teaching. She is clearly passionate about her profession, but it feels as if she is being interrogated. And, indeed, she is, as we soon find out — because she has just shot and killed a school shooter in her classroom. It sets up a dissonance that reverberates throughout the play and illustrates the range of interesting and deft choices made by director John Perrin Flynn as the riveting narrative unfolds.
Playwright David Rambo crafts a timely and compelling story of the aftermath of a school shooting in which 11 middle-schoolers and two adults are killeduntil Anna fires several bullets into the head and back of the murderer with her Beretta that she keeps in her desk drawer.
Anna, who teaches 8th grade math, tells police officers a chilling tale that has become all too common in America — an alert of a shooter on campus; the sound of gunshots; the execution of the classroom protocol — lock the door, hide as many children as possible in the closet, pile desks against the door and have the remaining students hide behind other desks. Yet the shooter manages to break his way into Anna’s classroom, only to be killed by her.
Despite what Anna has gone through, the cops ask her probing questions about her gun: why she has it, if she kept it locked away safely, and so on. She’s rattled by the line of questioning, and, as she says again and again, she would do anything to protect her students.
The action then moves on to a non-linear telling of Anna’s background and the fallout from the shooting (for example, she is mercilessly hounded by the media and the National Rifle Association, which wants to make her a champion of the Second Amendment).
As Anna’s life unravels, we learn that her enthusiasm for teaching is not absolute. Despite how young her charges are, she faces professional challenges related to student addiction, teen pregnancies, disrespect. She is also forced to deal with issues common to all teachers, including low pay that, in her case, requires her to take a second job at Walmart.
In fact, Anna is often angry at some of her students — one in particular. And we learn that she has not been completely honest with the authorities.
What makes A Good Guy so fascinating are Anna’s complexities and the questions that playwright Rambo poses: Is Anna a hero or a teacher who potentially put her students’ lives at risk by bringing a gun into the classroom? Does her anger trump her ostensible heroism? Is her passion for teaching outweighed by the very circumstances of struggling to do her job in difficult circumstances with or without the threat of unspeakable violence in public schools?
As mentioned previously, Flynn skillfully matches his direction with the script’s action. This is particularly apparent within the constraints of the stage. The play is mounted in Rogue Machine’s upstairs small space, which is most likely used primarily for rehearsals. Scenes take place in a classroom, in a faculty lounge, at Anna’s home, in a park, etc. Props are minimal, and bare scene changes are made swiftly and smoothly by the actors. In addition, two of the cast members, Wayne T. Carr and Suzen Baraka, play multiple roles effectively by seamlessly donning minimal costume changes. Logan Leonardo Arditty comes in as The Student near the end of the play. The cast is strong, though Arditty might bring his performance down a notch.
A nod should also go to scenic designer Jan Munroe for including an outsized outline of a body across the floor with several red crosses marking the bullet holes that killed the school shooter.
A Good Guy clearly delves into the issue — usually raised by Republicans — of whether the best way to stop a school shooter is to arm teachers. But the play goes beyond that issue to put a human face on our nation’s educators who struggle not only with potential violence in their classrooms, but also with the day-to-day effort to – as Rambo puts it in his program note – “see the light of learning in young eyes.”
Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; Fridays and Mondays, 8 pm; Saturdays, 5 pm; Sundays, 7 pm. roguemachinetheatre.org. Running time: One hour, 15 minutes, no intermission.
