Reviewed by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move
It’s undeniable. There is just something unexpected and exciting about Red Cup Theatre Company’s That Long Damn Dark currently playing at Atwater Village Theatre.
More everyday-comedy-of-life than spiritually transporting, this fast-paced, very lightly humorous West Coast premiere. Written by Ashley Rose Wellman, That Long Damn Dark is crisply directed by Laura Steinroeder, easy to follow, has an interesting take on justice and is tightly written storyline and simply well-crafted entertainment.
Ed and Lorraine, husband and wife, gunshot-ridden corpses are making it their business to regularly haunt their teenaged killers Leah and Todd. Todd is hopelessly devoted to Leah and sworn to protect her. But Leah isn’t telling anyone everything – something that’s about to destroy a lot of lives.
There’s one transition in the storyline that borders on preposterous in a “my dog ate my homework” sort of way, but the material is otherwise believable, not emotionally overdone and totally relatable. It’s not that deep although, Wellman’s writing accurately sheds light on the most basic behaviors and desires of ordinary people. And, in equal parts, for each piece of humor is a bit of solemnity where outcomes, repurcussions and satisfaction for anyone is concerned.
Dennis Baker, Rod Hernandez-Farella, Maura M.Knowles, Arthur James Solomon, Charmee Taylor and Leah Zhang are all well-cast and bring a really nice reality to this intriguing play that could easily go way over-the-top in performance but for Steinroeder’s balaced direction.
All the other scenic elements nicely align including set desing by J.R. Bruce, lighting by Brandon Baruch, costumes by Jamie Brown and fight direction by Mike Mahaffey.
THAT LONG DAMN DARK synopsis:
Purgatory is a storage unit in rural Alabama for Ed and Lorraine, the gunshot-ridden corpses of a murdered married couple. Leah and Todd, their teenaged murderers, flee the state to Arkansas, haunted by memories and the unearthly talking dead. When Mara and Ethan, two recent transplants from New York City, take the young adults into their new home, the disturbing unfolding reality of the situation threatens to destroy the lives (and afterlives) of all involved.
Photo courtesy of Red Cup Theatre Co.: Rod Hernandez and Farella Charmee Taylor in That Long Damn Dark
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