West Coast Premiere of OBIE Award-Winning "Circle Mirror Transformation" Running Now at SCR
Sometimes you see something so perfect, so comfortable and real that you have to remind yourself that parallels to your own world are entirely a coincidence.
now running January 9th to 30th at SCR.
So it was last week as I watched “Circle Mirror Transformation” at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. I had to constantly remind myself that the characters on the stage do not know me. They don't know I come from a small town in Vermont (the setting of the play) or that I've also spent countless hours in wacky acting workshops, as well.
Still, as this play brilliantly tapped into a goldmine of truths about the circumstances at the heart, I had moments of extreme déjà vu.
But, this is a tribute to fine dramatic storytelling, not a “Twilight Zone” episode. And sadly, the playwright, Annie Baker, doesn't know me from Adam (or Eve, in this case), even though as the production unfolded on stage at the Julianne Argyros Stage, I could have sworn everyone in the production knew me. They must have. Because I could have sworn I knew them.
I'm not really that much of a narcissist (I hope) to think that everything's about me. (But, if I am please be kind and just change the subject.) Instead, I think it’s that this instant recognition that I felt here is often the mark of really great work.
“Circle Mirror Transformation” is set entirely in one room of a small-town community center, and tells the story of five people who come there each week for an acting class. There’s Marty, (Linda Gehringer), the teacher, and her husband, James (Brian Kerwin). Schultz (Arye Gross) is a miserably unhappy, recently divorced woodworker. Theresa (Marin Hinkle), is an unsuccessful actress who retreated from Manhattan to start over after a breakup with her boyfriend. Lauren (Lily Holleman), is a sullen teen, who barely says a word at the start of the play, before coming out of her shell as the story unfolds.
Billed as a comedy, “Circle Mirror Transformation” is funny, but in a subtle way, that allows for heavier subjects to emerge, too – love and betrayal and the ability to grow and change, among them.
As the characters’ stories develop over the course of the play, you start recognizing people, and archetypes, on stage, who feel familiar and true. Sometimes a play is about a foreign place or concerned with issues with which I've never wrestled. But what you hope, in plays such as these, that what you will recognize is a common sense of humanity in the play.
In those moments you realize the characters and play have nothing to do with the circumstances of your real life, but are just a quirky coincidence wrapped around a truly brilliant gem of a play, which is, in fact, also touching the hearts and minds of everyone around me in the audience as well – even those who have never pretended to be a tree or a baseball glove or done any of the other creative exercises used during the acting classes Baker has created here.
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| Annie Baker, OBIE award-winning playwright for "Circle Mirror Transformation." |
Baker won an Obie award for “Circle Mirror Transformation” last year for Best New American Play, and it’s not an accident. In the Costa Mesa production, a great writer found a director (Sam Gold, who also directed in New York) and a cast, who all worked together beautifully to present an amazing night of theater.
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| Sam Gold, OBIE award-winning director of "Circle Mirror Transformation." |
So go – The play, “Circle Mirror Transformation,” running now through Jan. 30 – and maybe you’ll recognize elements in these characters and stories that remind you of your own life. At the end, you may need to sit up a little straighter in your seat and pat yourself on the back for giving yourself the gift of having bought a ticket to see something that instantly touches your heart as it holds up a mirror to reflect a little bit of who you are.
Below is a video clip of a scene from Baker's touching and comedic play:
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