By Mike Ramsey
Pygmalion Productions presents a show that everyone can benefit from seeing. Playwright Kim Rosenstock takes the challenges of depression in a family of three and turns their quirky forms of coping into the delightful comedy Tigers Be Still performed at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Leona Wagner Black Box in Salt Lake City. Tigers Be Still leaves the audience feeling quirky and warm inside, all the while understanding the impact that disappointment and depression can have on people and those around them. Tigers Be Still allows an avenue for some who are uneducated about depression to more comfortably learn about its effects on others.
The play follows the story of a mother and her two daughters who are living and coping with depression, all three for different reasons. The youngest daughter, 24 -year-old Sherry, is about to start her first job as an art teacher where she works with Joseph, the principal. Joseph pushes a teaching assistant, his son Zack on Sherry in hopes that Sherry’s art therapy training may help him. In the meantime, Sherry wants to hold therapy with her first client out of their home where her sister Grace is just laying around all day drinking and crying about the breakup with her fiancé. She continually raids the former fiancé’s apartment, taking his items back to her house in an attempt to get back at him for breaking her heart. As all this is going on, their mother is lying upstairs locked in her room because she is depressed about her weight and her husband leaving her. We never see her. In the meantime, we also watch the relationship between the principal and his son as they cope with the death of their wife and mother. With all characters fighting their own fears or “tigers”, the play could be a total downer but the quirkiness of the characters and their interactions with each other keeps us laughing through the tough feelings.
There are tender moments that sort of surprise the audience as they are packed in between the comedy but this is the reason to love this play. Grace, while drunk, tells Sherry that when she was paralyzed with depression, she was a “good listener” but now she is “suddenly functional”, which to Grace was not a good thing. Later on in the play, Sherry has a rough time with Zach and sits down next to Grace, indicating that she may be slipping back into her depression until Grace tells her that, “It is good to have you back”. Sherry suddenly jumps up showing her resolve to stay away from the old her and to continue conquering her fears. One of my favorite lines is from Zach when he tells Sherry, “I am like covered in your judgement right now.”
Kaitlin Lemon does a marvelous job playing Sherry as she courageously takes on the responsibility of fixing her household’s problems as well as her own. She is so likable that you will cheer for her success in your heart. Liz Whittaker portrays Grace with just the right amount of drunkenness without being too sloppy yet with a determination to get what is rightfully hers. Lane Richins’ comedic timing carries us from one scene to another as well as his tenderness discussing his son’s issues. Jordan Briggs’ creation of Zach keeps us on our feet as we are not sure exactly who he is at the beginning until his connection with Sherry solidifies and we see that he is a teenager with a hurting heart from the death of his mother. Great job to all four actors. We did not get tired of your portrayals but were left with wanting more. One other note is the physicality of the comedy is superbly done and makes such a difference.
Director Elizabeth Golden took Kim Rosenstock’s masterfully crafted script and put down to earth life in it. I felt at home sitting in the family house. I felt like I was a part of the experience and it was real to me. Bravo for that! The set design by Thomas George and the lighting design by Michael J. Horejsi are just perfectly balanced for the black box presentation. Not too much and not too little. The only thing I found annoying, along with some others in the audience, was some noise coming from upstage right backstage throughout the play. It seemed like maybe an HFAC issue that needs to be taken care of.
Tigers Be Still and all those involved take a not so happy start and give it humor, love, forgiveness, vulnerability and hope and turn it into a happy ending where everyone in the audience leaves with a smile. The show is for all adults who need to laugh and sigh.
Note: Adult language and themes
Pygmalion Theatre Company Presents Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock
Leona Wagner Black Box, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 West 300 South, Salt Lake City, UT
October 19-November 3rd, 2018, 7:30 PM
Tickets: $20
Contact: 801-355-ARTS (2787)
Tigers Be Still Facebook Event
Pygmalion Theatre Facebook Page
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center Facebook Page
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