BROOKLYN LAUNDRY – Written by John Patrick Shanley; Directed by Allison Watrous. Produced by BETC (Presented at the Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut, Boulder) through March 15. Tickets available at office@thediary.org.
Think back to the places you found love (high school doesn’t count!). Even those short time, quicky romances that sizzled for a weekend or a month. A bar? A church? At work? The library? School? Anywhere, but a laundromat!! And yet, it happens. John Patrick Shanley specializes in unlikely relationships found in unlikely places. With this script, throw in the factor of inconvenient time on top of everything else.
Fran, a disillusioned NYC resident, drops her dirty laundry off at her neighborhood cleaners and bumps into the owner, Owen, who is covering for an absent employee. Fate at work. A little conversation turns into a little flirting, turns into an invitation to dinner. But Fran has some family business to attend to before she can take on anything new. She has two sisters who each have their own set of problems, which unfortunately land on Fran’s shoulders. After one promising date and one long absence on the part of Fran to cope with the family issues, she returns to the laundromat a different person, one weighed down with new responsibilities and a no-nonsense attitude toward her new life. Instead of giving her time to explain or to share, Owen rebukes her for “ghosting” him, leading to an argument that could signal the end of everything. One last twist puts a new spin on their situation. Like most of Shanley’s plays dealing with real-life and real people romances, a compromise leads to hope.
The sharp, brittle character of Fran is given an authentic portrayal by the uber-talented Annie Barbour, who hit Denver only a few years back and has been cutting a wide swath in Denver’s theatres since. Her accent, her attitude, her vulnerability hidden under a carefully curated nonchalance all create a character you naturally root for. The same with Owen, here created by Torsten Hillhouse, whose coast-to-coast career happily lands in Colorado occasionally. His Owen reflects both optimism and fearfulness based on past incidents, both physical and emotional. An almost immediate spark lights hope in his heart. Fran’s sisters are illuminated by Jessica Robblee and Kate Gleason, two familiar, popular, and always brilliant actresses who bring the personal problems of both to light. This is a family hard hit by pressures almost too much to bear.
Praise must be given to the overwhelmingly complete set of the laundromat with its racks and racks of clean plastic-enclosed clothing hanging neatly, waiting to be returned to their owners. The set, complete with the accoutrement of laundry equipment, provides an appropriate background for a couple trying to make a clean start. Flanking walls easily pivot to provide the sick room of one sister and a meeting place for the second. Designer Tina Anderson has outdone herself on this one and, even with a building crew, this is an amazing work of practical art. She was obviously given great assistance by Props Designer Katie Hopwood McCleaf in dressing the set. I swear I could smell the Arm and Hammer at work in the back room.
After completing a successful Denver run at the Savoy, the whole kit and kaboodle has moved to the Dairy Center for Boulder residents and Denver folk who missed the first weeks for an additional showing.
A WOW factor of 8.75!!