Infinite Life

 C

It’s hard for me to believe that more than three months have passed since I set foot in a theater. I wish I could say that my return to theatergoing this afternoon was a positive experience, but, alas, I cannot. Today’s performance was a late preview of Annie Baker’s latest play at the Atlantic Theater Company. My expectations were not high because, with the exception of John, I have not found any of her plays enjoyable. I was baffled that Circle Mirror Transformation won an Obie and even more surprised when The Flick bagged a Pulitzer. The Antipodes had no point that I could detect. While her ability to capture the quotidien is admirable, her plays often seem to meander aimlessly. The current play is set in an alternative medicine clinic for pain management in Northern California where the treatment is based on fasting. Of the five female patients we meet, four are of retirement age, while one, Sofi (Christina Kirk; Clybourne Park), is in her late forties. Eileen (Marylouise Burke; John, Fuddy Mears) is a returning patient who once was a Christian Scientist. Yvette (Mia Katigbak; Awake and Sing!) seems to suffer from every disease imaginable. Elaine (Brenda Presley; The Lyons) has thyroid problems, as does her absent cat. Ginnie (Kristine Nielsen; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) is unabashedly nosy. Midway through the play the handsome Nelson (Pete Simpson; Is This a Room) arrives, and upsets the equilibrium. The play covers the ten or so days that Sofi is there for treatment. Her ailments are closely tied to her psychosexual problems. She is strongly attracted to Nelson. Some of the scenes are at night with the audience seeing little more than shadows. Sofi occasionally addresses the audience to inform us how much time has elapsed between scenes. Sofi’s experiences form the center of the action, to the extent that there is any. The other female characters are underdeveloped. The acting is uniformly strong, with Kirk and Burke standing out. The usually wonderful Nielsen is essentially wasted in this role. The scenic design by dots (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window) features seven rather dilapidated lounge chairs sheltered by a wall of ornamental blocks. The costumes by Asta Bennie Hostetter (John) suit the characters well. Director James Macdonald (The Children, Cloud Nine) gives the play lots of room to breathe. The audience included many young adults who laughed frequently. I envied them for finding the play congenial. Running time: one hour 50 minutes; no intermission.

The Headlands

B

The folks at LCT3 are doing playwright Christopher Chen (Caught) a disservice by describing his likable new play as “contemporary noir.” While the setting is San Francisco and there is an unexplained death to be solved, the play does not really recall the world of classic noir films. Our amiable but unreliable narrator is Henry (Aaron Yoo; Where Do We Live?), a 30-ish Chinese-American Google engineer who, with the assistance of his girlfriend Jess (Mahira Kakkar; Miss Witherspoon), enjoys trying to solve cold cases. He often breaks the fourth wall to address the audience. The case he is currently investigating is about the shooting of a man ten years prior. While it was called a home burglary gone awry, there are some loose ends that suggest otherwise. We soon learn that the man shot was Henry’s father. Henry’s investigation leads him to discover a series of increasingly upsetting family secrets that call into question almost everything he thought he knew about his family. Along the way, his increasing obsession with solving the mystery alienates his girlfriend. The story is told mainly in flashback and makes heavy use of projections to set the scene. The unreliability of memory is a recurring theme. Bits and pieces of Henry’s memories change their significance with each discovery. Laura Kai Chen (Dan Cody’s Yacht) and Johnny Wu (Chinglish) are effective as Henry’s parents. Mia Katigbak (Awake and Sing) plays an older version of Henry’s mother as well as her no-nonsense best friend. Henry Stram (JUNK, Network) doubles as Henry’s father’s business partner Walter and as the detective who investigated the crime. Edward Chin-Lyn (Veil Window Conspiracy) is Tom, whose connection I shall not reveal. The set by Kimie Nishikawa (The Light) is a virtually bare gray space that is often covered with Ruey Horng Sun’s (King Kong) projected photographs and film clips. Tilly Grimes’s (Underground Railroad Game) costumes are apt. Knud Adams (Paris) direction is fluid. It’s an intriguing story which one wishes went a little deeper. The subplot about Henry’s relationship with his girlfriend is a definite weak spot. Nevertheless, I thought the play showed promise and was worth seeing. Also, it was good to see Asian-American actors have an opportunity. Running time: 90 minutes; no intermission.