The Animal Monologues

Reviewed by Dana Martin
Bootleg Theater
Through November 18 

Lemmings and mountain lions and rescue dogs — oh my! The Animal Monologues is a one-woman show written by and starring Amy Raasch. The piece is part of Solo Queens Fest, a four-week festival of solo shows and workshops happening at the Bootleg Theatre. The play blends multimedia and live performance and addresses a variety of current topical issues through the perspective of animals, with varying levels of success.

We meet Griffith Park’s infamous mountain lion P-22, the loneliest lion in Hollywood. Other animal cameos include a salty lemming, a tender fawn, a menagerie of birds, an all-knowing domesticated cat, a one-eyed bear and even the last living search-and-rescue dog from 9/11. All emanate varying levels of cute, and Raasch often shares the stage with animated characters, which is great fun to see in action.

Raasch has a light airy presence and delivers an earnest, humorous performance. But we rarely meet the same character twice and the many different animals Raasch portrays blend together. There’s is too little vocal and/or physical variety, especially because Raasch wears multiple masks. She’s easily overpowered by the enormity of the animation and it’s often difficult to hear her clearly.

Many of the play’s transitions feature animation and illustrations by Tahnee Gehm, which are large-scale wonderful. Cartoon animation by Kiernan Sjursen-Lien is whimsical and fun and an animated menagerie of birds designed by Clint Carney is mesmerizing. Director Matthew McCray dives headfirst into the wild world of blending media and live performance and lands upon some innovative, out-of-the-box ways of presenting the story. Costume design by Edna Jones is pared-down, playful and creative. Composer David Poe provides the play with a broad variety of tempo. His music is epic and adventurous, lending a cinematic quality to the piece. The sound mix is at times uneven and Raasch’s live performance is overpowered.

The Animal Monologues explores courage, resilience, gentleness — traits inherent in the animal kingdom that humans need to re-discover. Each animal’s perspective provides a refreshingly pure point-of-view about topics that dominate today’s headlines. The story is at times disjointed but also innovative and exciting. The team blends animation, illustration and live performance in order to channel the strengths of animals. What a wonderfully wild way to view the world.

Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. Performance times vary; through Nov. 18. (213)-289-3856 or bootlegtheater.org. Running time: 55 minutes with no intermission.