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| Gretchen Douma and Lillian Afful Straton in Terra Incognita (Shane Regan) |
Terra Incognita
Annex Theatre
Through August 20,
2016
Annex Theatre’s
current theatrical opening is a world premiere. That’s not unusual for the tiny
(only in physical space), volunteer collective. What’s a bit unusual is that
this play, Terra Incognita, by Benjamine Benne, only has four actors.
Some of their recent world premieres have had a dozen or more characters.
This is Benne’s
first fully-mounted production, but he’s been extremely busy generating product
over the last several years, getting noticed by Eugene O’Neill’s National
Playwrights Conference, and will be leaving us to serve for a year in
Minneapolis’ Playwright Center as a Many
Voices Fellow. That’s not to say that more of his plays may well be
produced here! He has a unique energy and commitment to his craft.
This play is a
part of his “mortality trilogy” and examines the will to live, as a “big” theme.
Two lonely souls, trapped inside their own limited imaginations, come
together with unexpected results. Both
are stuck in the past, having trouble opening themselves to Life’s
possibilities.
The title refers
to the unknown, the mystery of what might come next. Most of us can likely say
that we wish we had a bit more certainty about our path forward, and probably
would say that we sometimes fear what we can’t expect.
Starting off
with a vibrant and mystical opening, Benne weaves in an “angel” or agent of
change who maybe protects or maybe stirs things up. This mysticism carries
throughout the play, giving it a flavor that keeps the characters from getting
mundane or cliché. Though these two women are people we can recognize easily.
Nadia (Lillian Afful Straton) is a young woman
who has carefully trudged along a daily path of sobriety until her days number
more than a year. But she is still haunted by the memory of her dead lover, feeling
like she should have died with him in the accident that took him. Recently, she’s
been followed around by a crow. Perhaps he’s watching her from the grave.
Sheila (Gretchen Douma) is an older social
worker that begins some kind of therapy sessions with Nadia. The reasons for
this are murky, but don’t really matter. There are some usual difficulties
getting started between a young, resistant, loner woman and the one who tries,
somewhat awkwardly, to offer support.
But they begin
to find a way to understand each other, and through their association, they change
each other. By the end, it’s clear that they have both managed to break through
some of their self-limiting ideas and made personal progress toward goals they
had difficulty envisioning as possible.
With the help of
the Angel (Eva Estrada-Campos) and
the apparition of Nadia’s dead lover, X (Jordan-Michael
Whidbey), the story is told lyrically and affectingly. The cast is solid
and introduces three new faces to the local scene with veteran actor Douma
familiar to some, though not usually at Annex.
Director Pilar O’Connell does a great job of
evoking the atmospherics with the help of an all white set by Mary Ann Keeney, moody lighting by Ranleigh Starling, sometimes eerie
sound design by Chris Leher, and
screen puppets by Ben Burris.
This is a fine
first production. Benne has a great inner ear for women’s voices (which he
informs me is probably because he grew up in a household with his mother,
grandmother and several aunts!) and reflects them believably. We can look
forward to many more plays of his in the future, whether he resides here or
not.
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