What I liked
I liked the self-deprecating humor. The tenderness and confessional nature of it all. I appreciated the recurring framing of the things that happen in our lives as either totally our creation or absolutely out of our control—and really appreciated that there was no attempt to wrap that up in a tidy bow. I love any play where I come away with a better understanding of people who are likely suffering in a similar way just down the street from me. This is what the Arts can give us that nothing else can.
The director’s role in a one-person show like this is probably more important than in a more elaborate multi-character work. Elina de Santos’s hand is invisible —until you stop to imagine all the thoughtful, guiding work done in the shadows to prepare Rachel Sorsa to shine.
(I bought my ticket with cash at the door)
What I didn't like
The only thing that detracted from the performance was the sound of the occasional hot rod passing by on Melrose Blvd. But so it goes with local theatre. With a show this good a little noise is not much to suffer.
My overall impression
I’d gone alone to a matinee to be supportive of a friend and came out of the theatre 75 minutes later utterly gobsmacked. Rachel Sorsa’s performance is so raw, so honest, so intricately woven that I felt as if I were bearing witness to something holy. I wasn’t familiar with the playwright’s work but WOW, what a gift for language—for brevity. Not a single word wasted. Not a sentence overwritten. Together, the actor, writer, director team forged a moment of great simplicity and haunting depth. The illumination of hard, human big picture truths will stay with me for a very long time.
