My overall impression
If you want to feel like a fly on the wall in a real life drama EDDIE is the play for you. I could not stand up fast enough to give these four extremely talented actors and the writer/director a standing ovation at the end of this play. Spartan sets together with well-chosen music between scenes drawing on some great jazz pieces effectively transition the audience in this carefully crafted play concerning a finite period in the life of Eddie (Adam Hale). EDDIE like the name suggests tells the story of a child but this one is a twenty something man-child who unbeknownst to himself is looking someday to be an Ed or an Edward. Eddie has a lot of growing up and soul searching to do on the bridge of life and we get to partake in a two-year journey of his self-discovery. Many men are shaped by the women in their lives and this Eddie is no exception. David Robinette (writer/director) has given life to a group of totally believable and brilliantly acted female characters each of which is astonishingly convincing in their interactions with Eddie. We never see Eddie’s mother but we hear bits and pieces of how this woman has had a devastating effect on his life. In the wise words of his equal age, more mature and now ex-girlfriend Charlie (Kimberly Alu) regardless of whatever demons his mother inflicted on him it’s time to get over it and move on with his life. Eddie tries that with the older and worldlier May (India Dupré) who is by no means a typical Cougar. May is on her own quest for self-discovery having taken “a break” from her last relationship. She becomes charmed with this brooding man-child that she tries to mold and who becomes for a time her pupil. Eddie is further shaped by his dancer classmate Marni (Desi Ivanova) who urges him to write what he knows and to act it out in a play for a course they are taking together. What ensues is something that you just have to see for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed. And like myself you may have hope that Eddie in the not too distant future will see the sun rise on another more self-informed chapter of his life.
