This has been an incredible term in the Pocket Playhouse, with nine amazing shows. The final show, “Pieces,” starts today and will end the Winter Pocket season confused rather than concluded.
The show, conceptualized and directed by Kat Reese and Darlene Dadras, is by far the most experimental one this term. It started with two 10-minute plays, one by Reese and one by Dadras, both written for a workshop last term. The directing duo took those scenes, cast the four men needed to fill those parts and then cast an additional three people to help develop the show as audiences will see it this weekend.
You may wonder where those extra three people fit in. Building off the two scripted sections, the actors developed various “pieces,” or scenes spawning from the pre-existing material. These sections reflect the actors’ insights and interpretations of the characters and action, but I’m not exactly sure where some of them came from. When they were done, they ended up with 35 pieces that could be interchanged and rearranged to make something into a show.
There is a beginning and an end to each show, but every performance will contain 14 different pieces to compose the action and direct the tone of the experience. Dadras said that it’s something like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book for the actors.
Hoping to create a new world for their pieces to fit together, the Pocket stage will be painted white to accentuate the many colors used in the lighting design. This visual difference from other shows makes the production more playful and surreal, a necessary element for the audience to accept what is happening.
The reason audiences may have trouble relating to the show is because it is very self-indulgent on the part of the directors and the actors. The choices the actors make have meaning to them that has been developed over the rehearsal process, but an audience that has never experienced the show before will not pick up on those meanings. There is no continuity in the combination of the pieces. The show requires an intellectual viewer willing to take the experience being presented and synthesize some individual meaning.
(From left) Nick Hamilton stands stupefied because Tynan DeLong is in his “spot,” a museum bench where he begins every day.
There are moments, however, when the self indulgence brings something very real to the performance. Because the actors created most of what the audience sees and hears, they are able to openly display intimacy. In a monologue by Yuko Tokuda, the actress confesses her inability to smile. It isn’t about being sad; it is about her face’s physical characteristics while she is smiling. Her words really touched me. I only hope that it will be one of the pieces in the shows performed.
Honestly, I don’t know how to rate a show with seemingly endless plot lines. And with possible combinations numbering in the 20th exponent, nobody will ever see all the shows that could make up this play. The actors keep repeating things like, “We want you to understand us,” and other attempts at connection and communication. But there really is no one message that is intended to be understood.
In any art that asks the viewer to be a part of the process, it is important that the viewers know what is expected of them. So all I can offer you as a potential viewer is this information: I would not expect that people without a comprehension and love of theater would be prepared to make the commitment necessary to benefit from seeing this show. But you may want to go just to see how you can make the pieces fit together.
“Pieces” runs today, Friday and Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Pocket Playhouse in Villard Hall. A $1 donation is suggested.
