The premiere of a new play is usually an exciting and momentous occasion. Endless months - often years - are spent writing, rehearsing, designing, and bringing to life the new text. If it's good, it might spawn future productions and even publication.
However, most plays face slim chances of ever seeing professional production. Unfortunately, "Mother Ginger" beat the odds.
On stage at the Alleyway Theatre through Nov. 24, Larry Gray's emotional new play offers the sad tale of an alcoholic mother, her doomed teenage daughter, and other characters that encroach on the happiness in her failing life.
Teaching ballet in a soon-to-close strip mall, Carol (played by Alleyway regular Lisa Vitrano) fights a losing battle from her first moments on stage. Divorced and two years sober, she finds a flask of vodka belonging to her daughter Dorie, a pretty, popular, and straight-A student played by the energetic Jeanna Stanley.
An ongoing financial (and romantic) clash with the mall's landlord, the impending closure of her business, and a love-hate relationship with her paraplegic neighbor, all add to the commotion. As plentiful as they are, these secondary plot lines add only bystander banter to the mission of the story: a mother's hope of good fortune for her daughter's future.
Carol's situation is not something to poke fun at, or even judge. The tale is sad from lights-up to blackout, and while there are a few moments of tenderness, the sadness lingers like tears at a funeral.
Vitrano gives a performance that has force, but not power. Only the volume of her voice and the spastic tendencies of her face have real impact. Her boisterous alto wailing and moaning about an injured hamstring is painful to hear in the small, intimate theatre.
John F. Kennedy gives a solid performance in his Alleyway debut as the wheelchair-bound doting pal, Fat Rat. Michael Mirand's Tuffy, the mall's business-savvy landlord, also adds friction to Carol's quandary. David Hall and Stephanie Bax-Fontanella give adequate supporting performances as Dorie's father and stepmother, respectively.
A common thread in Vitrano and Mirand's performances is their reluctance to permit any subtext through their over-acting of lines and emotions. The most effective performance in theater is often the one only partially complete, left open for audience interpretation. They can't be blamed for their efforts, although they stick out terribly.
The many scenes between Vitrano and her pals are symptomatic of trashy daytime soap operas and Lifetime TV movies. It's unfortunate that a stronger story couldn't be fashioned out of the feeble lives Gray accentuates.
The biggest mistake in Gray's script is not that its dull and lifeless characters don't have an ounce of joy to celebrate, but that the audience is privy to only their weak moments. Without views into Carol and Dorie's pasts, which are sure to include some happy times, the audience is left with the assumption that they will never rebound. It's not an easy thing to sit through, especially with helpless, limp dialogue and uninspired direction.
Neal Radice, director of the Alleyway Theatre and this production, tries delicately to deliver a deeply personal story. A cheap-looking set, monotonous lighting, and little variation in Gray's scene structure does not give Radice much to work with.
With all that he has done in and for local theater, it is troubling to think that Radice could not have found a more interesting script to premiere.
While the process of creating a new show requires the talents and efforts of many people, the fruits of their labor are not guaranteed to be sweet. Credit is definitely due to those whose creative ambitions allow for the creation premiering. But all that's really guaranteed in this process is an education - what works, what fails, and what ultimately tells the story.
At least Alleyway accepts the risk that comes with producing a new play, and "Mother Ginger" could have been far worse. It could have been, like the "Nutcracker," which Carol constantly refers to, a ballet.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
