Jul 11, 2003  |  By: PATRICK FOLLIARD  | COMMENTS     

IN GAY PLAYWRIGHT Christopher Durang’s 1987 piece, “Laughing Wild,” crazy girl meets bisexual, self-help boy. In a perverse way, the anxiety-ridden pair’s hapless introduction just might be described as “meeting cute”: Both neurotic New Yorkers are in the same aisle at a supermarket. She wants a can of tuna, he’s in her way, so she hits him on the head really hard. Not MGM cute, but more “off your medication” cute.

Currently, the little-known but terrific Open Circle Theatre is staging a production of Durang’s still relevant play on a tiny stage in the back of the 1409 Playbill Café. Part of Open Circle’s mission is to utilize the considerable talents of artists with disabilities.

“Laughing Wild” isn’t the easiest play for the audience or the two-person cast. The first half of the show consists of two lengthy, darkly hilarious monologues both instigated by the violent incident in the grocery store.

First, the seriously disturbed woman, performed with stunning intensity by Suzanne Richard, who also co-directs with Arianna Ross, embarks on a lengthy, manic rant. She says her life make the Frances Farmer story look like “Laugh In.” Given the chance, she could have been a Warhol superstar. She hates Sally Jesse Raphael, Mother Teresa, and that “smutty, nutty Dr. Ruth.”

Alternately charming, angry and vulnerable, she rails on cab drivers, the shrinks who once put her in a state mental hospital, happy teens from New Jersey, and Reagan appointees. At one point, she asks the audience for a job.

NEXT, WE HEAR from the man, played by a very funny and gay Dan Via. He’s a really unhappy magazine writer heavily into deep breathing and repeating a litany of self-affirmations. Although he strives to end negative thought patterns, it’s hopeless. He wonders why God chose to introduce AIDS to gays, hemophiliacs, and heroin users? And why in 1978, when gay sex had been around “at least since 1956.”

The second half of the play brings the actors together on stage. The man and woman re-enact the identical dreams that they’ve been experiencing since the market brouhaha. Each dream ends with different results.

The woman dreams or imagines that she’s been called to step in for Sally Jesse Raphael to interview the sunny Infant of Prague. Richard’s liberal “Sally” does not like Via’s right wing, homophobic infant even if he is decked out in a fussy gown. Through the dream sequences, the man and woman arrive at an understanding: touching, sweet, and unexpected.

Draped in fabric splashed with gray, pink and light blue paint, Scot McKenzie’s set and silver sculpture is pure ’80s. The woman’s acid-washed mini-skirt, legwarmers, and many plastic bangles by Kathleen Geldard were also right on. The scary murmurs, giggles, cries and sirens of Mark Anduss’ sound design enhanced the madness of the text. Marianne Meadows’ perfectly executed lighting design made the little stage appear larger, and gave the production a feel of quality.

Watching Richard, who is less than 4 feet tall and uses crutches, it becomes clear that an actor with a visible disability is sometimes able to add depth to a role: vulnerability, strength or, in some cases, even a slight edge of discomfort for the audience that heightens the excitement of the performance.

MORE INFO
‘Laughing Wild’
Open Circle Theatre
1409 Playbill Café
1409 14th Street, NW
240-683-8934
through July 20