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Photos Meryl Cohn
Lori Ada Jaroslow gets jilted and sets the stage for “Reasons to Live.” |
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Mary Beth Caschetta (left) and Tia Scalcione (right) are cornered by Denise Gaylord as the drunken neighbor who regrets saying no to that college roommate’s proposition. |
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Plenty of reasons to see ‘Reasons to Live’
By Sue Harrison
Banner Staff
It’s hard to know exactly how to begin describing Meryl Cohn’s sixth Women’s Week play, “Reasons to Live.” How about just ‘wow’? Cohn, always a solid writer, has transcended and crossed over into a whole new realm that is non-stop funny, wickedly insightful and infused with comedic brilliance.
I don’t remember when I have laughed as often or as hard. There were so many amazingly good one-liners that it seemed impossible that Cohn could keep up the pace and, yet, she did.
The cast was terrific but the first round of praise has to go to the playwright. In “Reasons” she has created a play that could easily transfer to a mainstream audience, big city venue. She has continued to grow as a writer and reveals an extended maturity of style in her ability to create a broad range of characters and give each an original voice.
This is about the laughs, but there is drama, and it is effectively dropped into the otherwise madcap scenes. There’s the usual dysfunctional but lovable family, the Silversteins, with more secrets than the deodorant aisle at the Grand Union. Mom, Stella (Lynda Sturner), remembers nostalgically when her eldest daughter Jane (Lori Ada Jaroslow) teetered on the brink of stardom in “Annie.” (They replaced her when she got breasts.) Stella’s grown-up twins Emily (Mary Beth Caschetta) and Andrew (Beau Jackett) still finish each other’s sentences and always want to boink each other’s girlfriends.
The main setting is Mom’s house right before Jane’s second marriage. Mom wanders around crooning Broadway tunes. Andrew makes mysterious phone calls and hasn’t gotten out of his pajamas in years. Emily (over in her apartment) tries to persuade her hottie one-night stand, Heather (Tia Scalcione), to come to the wedding and pretend to be her life partner.
But things go awry — hey, this is a comedy — and pretty soon we have everybody wandering in and out in a kind of who’s on first routine. The wedding is off but the characters are on. The jilted Jane, now tucked into her lovely but unnecessary wedding gown, is flat on the floor, one too many Xanax to the wind as she can’t decide whether she wants to die or just relax. Emily and Heather pretend to be the perfect couple and Andrew meets with a “client” (Tara, played by Sara Shatzel Fitzpatrick). Mom tries to lure Andrew out of his PJs and into regular clothes, “only the Mafia and Liberace live in their pajamas,” and when she meets Tara tries to convince her to give up drugs, an appropriate response since Mom thinks Andrew’s mysterious calls are drug deals and that Tara has come to score.
Stella tells Tara about the various 12-step groups she goes to and how she pretends to be addicted to alcohol to belong and be heard. She explains the intricacies of hiding cheap wine to be found during fake interventions and really hiding the good stuff to drink later, The doorbell rings and an unexpected visitor puts an end to Act I.
When Act II begins, the entire group is on stage vignetted in turn by a spotlight as each delivers short, isolated background monologues. Except for Andrew, who tells in small, dramatic pieces the story of the tragedy that binds the family together.
Before things get resolved, lots of assumptions get thrown up in the air, and tucked in between the laughs are plenty of absolute truths about life and family. Denise Gaylord is cast in a small part as drunken family friend Helen Lefkowitz. She gets her own share of zinger lines despite scant stage time, and Gaylord’s skill at physical comedy is always enjoyable to watch.
Four of the stars, Sturner, Jaroslow, Jackett and Fitzpatrick, played together this summer in Counterproduction’s “Bingo,” and they bring with them a rock-solid ensemble feel. Caschetta, Scalcione and Gaylord are Cohn veterans and they round out the group tightly.
Direction by Shannon MacMillan is a marvel of split-second timing and nuanced delivery. The set was well-designed and executed, and if anything wasn’t quite right it was the sound level when music cut in a bit too loudly between scenes.
Fans of Cohn’s previous lesbian-themed plays will find what they have come to love and more as this play, a kind of “Will and Grace” mélange of straight and gay, proves that we all share a desire for love, understanding and meaning, and hopefully a willingness to let others find the same.
The actors got a well-deserved standing ovation and second curtain call. Kudos to Cohn, she’s pulled all the pieces together in this one.
“Reasons to Live” by Meryl Cohn, presented by the New Provincetown Players at The Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St., Provincetown at 7:30 p.m. nightly through Oct. 12 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 13-14. Tickets $28, $25 NPP members & seniors/students. (508) 487-9793 or www.ptowntix.com
artseditor@provincetownbanner.com
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Dec 31st, 1969