Lisa Clifton, Trevor H Olsen and Sierra Marcks (Photo by Brad C. Light)
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Theatre of NOTE
Through June 1
RECOMMENDED
In my recent review of Steve Yockey’s Mercury, I referred to him as “having one of the most original and distinctive voices in modern theater” and how “his work is often suffused with dark humor and weird or supernatural elements.” Both of these statements hold true for Distractions at the Crash Site, a collection of short works now enjoying a West Coast premiere production at Theatre of NOTE. If one hasn’t experienced Yockey’s trademark mélange of humor and horror, Distractions serves well as a sampler of his stylish writing, performed here by a talented and game cast.
Weird shit abounds. Evelyn (Lisa Clifton) is terrified that a satellite will fall on her if she goes outside. Internet troll Rick (Ron Morehouse) is trapped in his apartment when one of his victims, Anne Marie (Cat Davis), waits outside to cheerfully stab him to death. Married couple John (Trevor H Olsen) and Linda (Sierra Marcks) receive an unexpected visitor after an incident at the zoo. Brenda (Gabby Sanalitro) is becoming perturbed at her husband’s new construction project in the backyard — an ark. Gabe (Joel Scher) is convinced that the large ghost of a bunny is haunting him around his home. Joshua (Henry Cruz) has just returned home from a heroic quest with a magical item, but his wife Amelia (Grace Eboigbe) isn’t happy about it. Finally, Diane (Clifton) wants to happily tell us how she buried her husband alive, but other people’s presence and moral judgements keep getting in the way.
Clifton impresses both as the comedically surprising mother Evelyn and as the murderous Diane, whose pleasant façade shatters once the rightness of her act is questioned. Morehouse is memorable as the clueless and cowardly Rick, but he’s even better as a zookeeper whose polite tone is very much at odds with what he’s saying. Davis excels in multiple roles but is especially amusing as the chipper stalker Anne Marie, who ends a phone call with “Kill you soon. Okay, bye!” Marcks is terrific as Linda, whose angry reaction has more depth than initially surmised; she is also quite amusing as an annoyed Death. Scher gives a dramatically complex performance as the haunted Gabe, and is quite funny as both the personification of the abused conscience of one of the characters and a pompous weatherman. Cruz scores as hapless hero Joshua and a polite jungle beast, while Eboigbe is chilling as the very angry Amelia. Sanalitro does strong work as the exasperated Brenda, and Olsen is good as a series of befuddled men.
Ryan Bergmann’s direction gets excellent work from the cast and is well-paced — seven plays in ninety minutes is no small feat. Mariah Harrison’s costumes, which range from big animals to a goofy cat shirt, are striking and appropriate, and Emory Royston’s masks are elegant yet ominous.
Yockey’s ideas are clever, although (as in any collection of plays) some of the pieces are more effective than others. They are full of offbeat humor (“We’re a tragic chorus, so we wouldn’t be here if things were nice”) and dark surprises, which makes for a unique and entertaining production.
Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat. 8 pm, Sun., 7 pm, Mon., 8 pm.; through June 1. https://www.theatreofnote.com/ Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
