The ensemble of “Adolescent Salvation” (photo by Jeff Lorch)
This review is part of the Stage Raw/Unusual Suspects Youth Journalism Fellowship
Reviewed by Maribelle Hoffa
Rogue Machine Theatre
Through October 12th
RECOMMENDED
As humans, we instinctively try to create order. We like it when things make sense, when the answers are right in front of us. For lack of a better term, we like it when things are clean. Adolescent Salvation, written by Tim Venable, is anything but that. It’s messy, angsty, and powerful. But instead of fearing this mess, Venable confronts it. He explores what humans do when caught in disaster, who they turn to, and how they fix it. Or, how they don’t.
The story follows Natasha (Carolina Rodriguez), Taylor F (Alexandra Lee), and Taylor M (Michael Guarasc) through a wild, reckless night. Natasha is withdrawn but strikingly bright, and finds herself stuck hosting Taylor F, her classmate who is brash and socially…experienced. Taylor F doesn’t come alone: she brings her lifelong gay best friend, Taylor M. To kill time, the unlikely trio bonds over too much alcohol and dangerously honest conversations. It’s all fun and games until Natasha drops a confession that forces them all to confront uncomfortable truths within themselves and within each other.
Guillermo Cienfuegos, the director of Adolescent Salvation, took Venable’s writing and ran with it ever-so-beautifully. The show is in the round, making blocking incredibly fluid and life-like. Sitting just a few feet away from the actors, the unfolding chaos is palpable. The actors frolic around the space, jump on the bed, come in and out of doors (and windows!).
Cienfuegos takes the messy lives of these characters and amplifies them in how they move, how they speak, how they move around the space, in an extremely effective way. I constantly found myself leaning forward with anticipation, unsure of what these characters would say or do. This unpredictability is brilliantly portrayed by Rodriguez, Lee, and Guarasc, who all clearly did the work to ensure that their performances are detailed and specific to their own characters.
It’s important to note, however, the outrageously intricate set design is what allows for a lot of the show to function. Joel Daavid, head of set and lighting design, warps you into a “teenage bedroom” environment from the second you walk into the theater. Posters cover the walls, fairy lights twinkle on the ceiling, and each piece of furniture is meticulously placed so that you know who Natasha is before the show even begins.
While watching the show, I took note of the three different things the characters toast to as they continue to drink throughout the play: friendship, honesty, and love. However, as the night stretches on and the drinking intensifies, these three things become increasingly harder for the characters to stay true to. The audience and the characters are left with nothing but murky questions. Who do we become when we choose to actively ignore our moral consciousness? How does that affect the people around us? These questions have been explored before, but seldom with the clarity and intensity employed by Venable and Cienfuegos. That is what makes Adolescent Salvation so special, and why its impact lingers long after leaving the theater.
Rogue Machine, 7657 Melrose Ave., L.A. Fri.-Mon., 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 5 p.m., thru Oct. 12. (No performances Mon. 8, 15 & 22.) https://roguemachinetheatre.org/ (855) 585-5185. 90 minutes with no intermission.
