Reviewed by Judy Richter
TheatreWorks has an impressive record of
developing new works that have gone on to national acclaim. The most recent
feather in its cap is "Memphis," this year's Tony winner for best musical.
"Memphis" was a product of the company's annual New Works Festival, a summer event that brings
together playwrights and composers to work on pieces in various stages of
development.
"Auctioning the
Ainsleys"
by Laura Schellhardt, a hit from last year's festival, has moved up to receive its world
premiere as the fully staged centerpiece of this year's festival. In one of its
publications, TheatreWorks describes it as "a play about people and the
objects that own them." The action takes place in a Midwestern auction
house occupied by a dysfunctional family.The reclusive matriarch, Alice Ainsley
(Diane Dorsey),
senses she is dying and hires a young writer, Arthur (Lance Gardner), to record her thoughts.
Three of her adult
children -- Annalee (Molly Anne Coogan), Amelia (Jessica Lynn Carroll) and Aiden (Liam Vincent) -- live with her and have
various roles in the family business. Her fourth -- and eldest -- child, Avery
(Heidi Kettenring),
has been on her own for 15 years, working the auction circuit after the death
of the family patriarch, also an auctioneer.
Alice associates her
children and various memories with particular objects, but she's beginning to
forget their significance. Hence, they're disappearing from her life. In the
meantime, she has decided that auctioning off the house is probably the only way
she can get the three resident siblings to move out and become independent.
It's also the only way to get Avery to return. Although Aiden so eschews
possessions that he doesn't even have places to sit in his downstairs
apartment, his sisters have their own unique attachments to various
possessions.
The first act, which
introduces all of the characters and sets the plot in motion, feels like an
absurdist comedy. That feeling is enforced by the excessive, neurotic behavior
of the siblings, especially the daughters. The second act works much better as
the siblings come to terms with long-held family secrets and consequently come
to terms with each other.
Annie Smart's multi-level, revolving set
works well. Her costumes, especially for Annalee and Amelia, look like they're
from the 1950s even though the play is set "in and around the
present," the program says. The music by sound designer Cliff Caruthers
often sounds
like a toy piano or music box. Lighting is by Paul Toben.
Audience reaction at
opening night was wildly enthusiastic. The play itself has much to recommend
it, including some very funny lines and an ultimately thought-provoking plot.
Nevertheless, the production has some shortcomings, perhaps starting with
director Meredith McDonough, who is TheatreWorks' director of new works. The primary
problem is that she allows the women playing the daughters to be too strident
and shrill, which quickly becomes wearing and off-putting. On the other hand,
Gardner provides a solid anchor as Arthur, the scribe who's the catalyst in
much of what's revealed. And even though Vincent's Aiden is just as neurotic
and vocal as his sisters, he has a better mastery of the character's emotions,
making them funny rather than annoying.
It would be interesting
to see this play again with a different director and cast, at least where the
sisters are concerned.
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