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(from left to right) Melissa Bair as Betsy, Jason Sudy as Dave from "Exit Interview" by Chris Morris

by Krista Threadgill

Round two of MadLab’s Theatre Roulette 2009 is just as appealing as the first.  The Ignorant Bliss series features the short plays And I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You, Exit Interview, andSpiders Eat Their Own.

In And I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You, author Aliza Einorn tells the story of Sanya (Amanda Howell), a young woman struggling with the pain of a difficult childhood.  Through the Interrorgator (Andy Batt), we learn of the unsettling events that occurred to make Sanya into the troubled person she has become.  He questions her mother’s boyfriend, known only as The Lover (Stephen Woosley) and God (Jim Azelvandre), searching for answers.  Meanwhile, Sanya searches for answers herself by questioning her doctor (Jennifer Feather) and a rabbi (Philip Hickman).  Even as her friend Joe (Josh Kessler) tries to comfort and assure her, Sanya’s past is never far from her mind.  Howell’s moving portrayal of Sanya makes the character’s frustration, betrayal, and hurt apparent.  The ensemble cast also gives a powerful, moving performance, while Michelle Batt’s direction keeps the pace moving nicely.  The one disappointment with this short play is that it is, of course, short.  It is possible that slightly a longer work could have fleshed out the story to greater satisfaction.

Exit Interview by Chris Morris is next on the bill.  In this short play, Dave (Jason Sudy) confronts his now ex-girlfriend, Besty (Melissa Bair), about why she left him.  Melissa’s primary interest in this meeting is retrieving her cat, which Dave holds hostage until she agrees to the interview.  In a series of questions that bring back memories of corporate personality pre-screening tests, Dave runs through all of the aspects of their former relationship in the hope of reconciling with Betsy.  He even hires two actors (John Kuhn and Michelle Batt) to replay his vision of how the break-up should have happened.  Bair is hilarious as the unhappy ex-girlfriend.  Her annoyance and hostility are palpable, but she does show a bit of tenderness toward the jilted Dave.  Sudy does a wonderful job with the anal-retentive Dave, showing so much vulnerability and naïveté that your heart goes out to the poor guy.  Although Kuhn and Batt do a wonderful job of overacting and mugging for the audience, I felt that their antics really did not add anything to the story the play tries to tell.

The final play of the evening is Spiders Eat Their Own by Doug Stone.   We meet the Calhoun family over the breakfast table:  Mrs. Calhoun (Melissa Bair), a chain-smoking, curler-wearing, self-proclaimed “World’s Best Mom” (according to her stained pink nightgown); Calvin Calhoun (Andy Batt), her thirty-something, unemployed, not-so-bright son; and Mr. Calhoun (Jim Azelvandre), her truck driver husband who spends his morning hiding behind the newspaper—or so it appears.  Mrs. Calhoun has a secret, and Calvin will discover what it is before he finishes his reheated spaghetti.  Bair and Batt keep up realistic Appalachian accents throughout, and Azelvandre is great at playing the straight man under Ric Shoemaker’s direction.

These are the final weeks of the 2009 Roulette.  Don’t miss it!

MadLab’s Theatre Roulette 2009 is showing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. at 105 N. Grant Avenue.  Ignorant Bliss will reprise on May 14 and 22.  On May 23, all of this season’s Roulette plays will be performed, starting at 2:00 p.m. 

Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for students/seniors, and $6 for MadLab members.  For reservations, visit the MadLab website or call 614-221-5418.

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Krista Threadgill spent her childhood following her parents around the Actors Guild of Parkersburg.  After that, she wiled away her summers at Jenny Wiley Amphitheatre, and she has performed in two Neil Simon plays.  She has an English degree from the Ohio State University.