REALITY THEATRE by Julia Lederer (QuestionMark-Exclamation Theatre/SummerWorks). Aug 6 at 3 pm, Aug 7 at 7 pm, Aug 8 at 5:30 pm, Aug 10 at 9:30 pm, Aug 12 at 3 pm, Aug 13 at 8 pm. See listing. Rating: NNN
Julia Lederers collection of vignettes is amusing, even if it all doesnt quite come together as a play.
Reality Theatres main theme seems to be how cut off we are from real life, whether its an actor (the deadpan Krista Morin) overthinking her one line as a prop in a Broadway musical or a trio of people who are constantly checking their laptop screens.
Despite some clever dialogue, the latter scenario has been done before many times. And a couple of sequences about a Dorian Gray-type character (Morin again) whos tired of immortality feel more like exercises than full scenes.
But the Broadway actor bit and its follow-through scene are absurd and very funny, particularly for those who know their musical theatre.
Director Rebecca Applebaum gets grounded, confident work from Morin, Andy Trithardt and Akosua Amo-Adem. But I wish this were being performed in a smaller venue the wide, acoustic-unfriendly Factory Mainspace robs it of intimacy and some laughs.
Read our interview with playwright Lederer here.