MetaFam

Reviewed by Neal Weaver
Flight Theatre at The Complex
Through June 25

Writer-dancer-actress Deana Barone is an exceptionally engaging performer, and her work stands out amid the bewildering profusion of solo plays at the Fringe. She looks with rueful optimism at the process of growing up Jewish in a family that was both a burden and a blessing. And she introduces us to a number of characters, including herself as a child; her aging and conservative father, who’s a follower of Milton Friedman and who urged her not to take dance classes on the grounds that all artists are immoral; her slightly vain and frivolous mother; her sister Shoshana who suffers from mercury poisoning; and her distant brother Sid who’s facing the onset of Parkinson’s disease. (She apparently did not take her father’ advice about dance classes: she interlards her performance with brief dance interludes.) There’s plenty of comedy in her account, but she also addresses some darker issues.

Barone has enough self-confidence to remain open-ended and experimental even in performance, and what she loses in terms of structure, she gains in spontaneity and freedom.  Her journey toward adulthood involves learning to accept responsibility for herself as well as responsibility for others. She’s an ardent feminist, but she’s blessedly unfanatical about it.

The TellTale Company at The Flight Theatre at the Complex, 6472 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3568.  Running time: One hour and 5 minutes.