My overall impression
Sunday, Jun 29th 2014 performance. I went to see this play on the insistent recommendation of a world traveled friend of mine who rarely gives high marks to anything. I brought two other professional friends, both male. Two of us have acting, writing, stage, and TV production background and fancy ourselves informed critics, the other is a doctor in brain research from France. We all had a wonderful time, laughed, and talked about moments from the play for hours afterwards. What Katie Rubin has created is a subtle, unpredictable, entertaining romp through the common dilemmas of quest in life, dissatisfaction, faith, disillusionment, and the threads that bind us together as human beings. To say that she has energy, talent, and is entertaining is an understatement. Her clever device is playing several compelling characters as her alter ego’s various POV’s. Herself, her practical Jewish agent, her metaphysical best friend, her guru, and MANY others. By doing this she not only tells her own personal story, but all of ours. The themes are universal. The show moves quickly, is laugh out loud funny, and surprisingly insightful. As she winds it up, I particularly liked her reference to Rumi but yearned for her to have used more of him and his lessor known verses. She used one of his most powerful – especially given his time in history – which she illustrated in story beautifully, “There are many ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” This line is as revolutionary now as it was then. There is a particularly funny and poignant exchange between a Southern wannabe-get-rich-quick infomercial queen and the Muslim Egyptian or Afghani (I have forgotten) video director that the Southern Christian woman has hired to direct her video. It’s laugh following laugh, as are many of her scenes. The twist of connection between these two women is so unpredictable and real, it is exactly what makes Rubin’s writing so brilliant. One can only hope that Rubin finds a bigger stage. Her writing is worth hearing, her performance worth seeing. If there was any weakness it was a song used at the top and end, I found it confusing and unsatisfying compared to the rest, even though she has a BEAUTIFUL voice. Other than that minor flaw, this is one of the best evenings of theater that you can have. Katie Rubin is spellbinding!
