Michael Guarasci and Alexandra Lee (photo by Jeff Lorch)
This review is part of the Stage Raw/Unusual Suspects Youth Journalism Fellowship
Reviewed by Keelyn McDermott
Rogue Machine Theatre
Through October 12th
RECOMMENDED
While theater taps into universal human experience, Rogue Machine’s of-the-moment production of Tim Venable’s Adolescent Salvation recognizes an important distinction that sets Gen Z and future generations apart: those damn phones. As a member of Gen Z whose high school experience spanned the entirety of the first Trump administration, I feel a sense of kinship with them and their sense of urgency in combatting the world’s cruelties. The youth have never been more aware of injustice, but when it comes to implementing activist beliefs cultivated online in real-life, what agency do 16-year-olds really have?
The play explores the trials and tribulations of being young in the modern age: online discourse over appearance, unaccepting older generations, and those looking to pray on the youth – all through conservations between teens Nastasha (Carolina Rodriguez), Female Taylor (Alexandra Lee), and Male Taylor (Michael Guarasci) over a single sleepover.
It is impossible not to invest in this story thanks to the expert talents of scenic/lighting designer Joel Daavid alongside assistant set designer and set decoration/prop master Megan Trapani, whose attention to detail astounds. Even before entering the playing space, the audience is fully immersed in Natasha’s bedroom, entering through her closet and even getting to see down her fully-dressed hallway – which is featured only briefly in the play.
Venable states that the play, “…is an expression of faith; an inherent belief in our human potential…and a fire of certainty that we can do better.” While he expresses a hesitancy to say what the play is exactly about beyond that, this sentiment is displayed through his examination of the younger generation; a generation who embodies what could be, even in seemingly insurmountable shitty-ness of what is. An endlessly determined one that exclaims, “I think our generation is going to change the world…”
Venable and third-time collaborator, director Guillermo Cienfuegos make an earnest attempt at examining this generation while not being a part of it themselves. Both Venable and Cienfuegos, while being outsiders, recognize this quality. Cienfuegos writes, “I may not be them, but I recognize the voice.” He recognizes how each character possesses an emblematic trait of modern youth: our radical empathy, (Male Taylor), our need to fight for what’s right, (Female Taylor), and our hopes to live a life that’s truly ours, (Natasha).
One stand out performance is Michael Guarasci – who is endlessly likeable as Male Taylor, plus-one to his supposed twin flame Female Taylor. He delivers a stunning monologue about putting himself in the shoes of an older person not willing to fully accept him for who he is. Female Taylor (Alexandra Lee), whose Labubu-adorned purse tells you all you need to know about how chronically online she is, however, is not so forgiving and asks adults to “do better.”
There are even moments in this story where Venable asks the teens themselves to “do better.”
A struggle that ends in a traumatic moment took on a farcical quality aimed at making the older audience members laugh. In its wake, a teen turns to their phone for emotional regulation – garnering a laugh again. Such instances are misaligned with Venable’s earnest attempt at urging a generation who hurls themselves into danger because of their own naivety to take heed. Like the rest of the play, these scenes could have been earnest and pointed at younger audience members, asking them to, “Look in the mirror.”
Comedy exists in this play – but the style of comedy chosen strayed too far from the grounded nature of the rest of the show and therefore undid some of our emotional investment in the characters. More work is undone when, towards the end, right as the show hits its highest point of conflict, new adult characters are introduced, seemingly to shed light on how older people cast feelings of regret about their own pasts onto younger ones. While related, the exceedingly long length and laid-back nature of these scenes made us sit back from the edge of our seats.
I ask that this production, which recognizes these characters as being some of the most widely criticized in society, to treat them with more understanding, love and care as there’s an opportunity to call Gen Z in instead of out. “Irregardless,” Adolescent Salvation is wildly entertaining, funny, extremely topical and deeply moving.
Rogue Machine, 7657 Melrose Ave., L.A. Fri.-Mon., 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 5 p.m., thru Oct. 12. (No performances Mon., Oct. 8, 15 & 22.) https://roguemachinetheatre.org/ (855) 585-5185. 90 minutes with no intermission.
