Wild Horses
Intiman Theatre
At 12th Avenue Arts
Through June 24, 2018
 |
| Dedra D. Woods in Wild Horses (Naomi Ishisaka) |
Allison Gregory
has created a play that turns the idea of a short story, told around a
campfire, into a visceral experience and a solo performance. She crafts a
memoir told from the point of view of a woman who has survived some difficult
moments in life, yet who can remember a seminal summer at the age of thirteen and
implies that summer formed much of who she later became.
Dedra D. Woods
takes on that role and Sheila Daniels
makes sure that Woods’ transitions into the various people intersecting with
her teenage self are portrayed with clean, clearly individuated characters.
The woman at the bar has no name. She begins telling the
story of her thirteenth summer by relating that there was a radio contest to “name”
A Horse With No Name, a song by the
band named America. It was released in 1972, so that links it to a very
specific time. In fact, if the woman is supposed to be telling the tale in 2018,
that would have to make her 59ish and Ms. Woods is not nearly 59. However, the
atmosphere in this bar is a little unmoored in time, so maybe it’s being told a
few years ago, too. The indistinct nature of theatre time…while being very
distinct.
