HOPE AND GRAVITY – Written by Michael Hollinger; Directed by Josh Hartwell. Produced by BETC (Presented at the Savoy Event Center-2700 Arapahoe, Denver and Nomad Theatre-1410 Quince Avenue, Boulder) through February 16 at Savoy Event Center and from February 20-23 at Nomad Theatre. Tickets available at SavoyDenver.com for Denver performances and betc.org for Boulder performances.
For all you claustrophobics who hesitate to enter an elevator, don’t be afraid to come to this funny and touching series of scenes about an elevator that fails. BETC’s elevator has no walls; it’s only defined by a square light on the floor. Five actors traverse up and down and in and out of scenes that set up the random relationships between nine people playing friends, lovers, wannabe parents, school nurses, and an elevator repairman.
The opening scene allows for a discussion of an accident in a falling elevator across town to nervous passengers who have had to wait for their ride. The repairman – a supposed expert on how safe elevators are – conducts a Randomized Floor Test (an RFT) of their elevator by programming it to stop randomly on various floors. What follows is a series of seemingly unrelated (or random) scenes in the lives of the four passengers in equally random order. But because of the cleverness of the script and the skill of the actors, as they slide in and out of various characters, the trail of random scenes creates a touching back story for the characters who end up – against all odds – in the deficient elevator.
This crew of five talented actors weave in and out of stories troubling, touching, searching, and funny. One of these is a scene between a man on the prowl and his hesitant pick-up at a mental health conference for people with various phobias. Hal (played by Jason Maxwell) is a dentist trying to get Barb (Bekah Lynn Broas) in the sack. Hal’s mental health problem is that he is a pathological liar (known a few of those in my day) constantly trying to glorify his existence with qualities and adventures he thinks make him more exciting. To combat this tendency, he has agreed to have electric shock devices attached to his private parts. Every time he tells a lie, he gets an increasingly painful shock. (Where were these devices when I needed them?! ) Watching Jason struggle to seduce Bekah, appear suave and important, and still keep from hurting himself was screamingly (literally) funny.
Matt Zambrano’s work in several scenes includes a sweet relationship meltdown when he proposes to his long-time girlfriend and then the finding of a new friend. Emma Messenger and Michael Morgan absolutely charm as two strangers meeting under unusual circumstances that seems to be moving toward a new friendship after many disappointments in both their lives.
An easily changeable set designed by Tina Anderson and equally flexible costumes curated by Alexandra Ligh allowed the actors to maintain the pace as they quickly moved into continuous scenes. All and all, another completely enjoyable afternoon or evening of theatre with the accomplished BETC troupe.
A WOW factor of 8.25!!