When this script was selected by Cincinnati Playhouse in 2004 for a prestigious new play award, the patrons of that prize withdrew their support. There were cries of "censorship," but more careful examination might label their act as courageous dramatic criticism. "Hiding Behind Comets" belongs to a burgeoning class of contemporary theatre pieces which shares values with cheap horror films and other forms of exploitation. Its actor/author, Brian Dykstra has cultivated an air of outrageous social criticism, but, a stand-up performer as well, he's more like an intellectual version of Andrew Dice Clay, and will hopefully fade from the scene as quickly. But a short "edgy" two act, four person, one-set show is a great temptation for a small theater, especially when controversy is more likely to sell tickets that substance.
Briefly, this post-modern melodrama, which might as well have a jukebox onstage--how did Dykstra miss that cliche--takes place in a roadside bar somewhere boring in northern California. A thuggish stranger has shown up. The young bartender, Troy, played by Greg Raposa--seen in "The Fox" earlier this season at the BCA--is arguing with his fraternal twin sister, Honey, played by Olivia Rizzo. She wants him to close early--it's around midnight--and come with her and his slutty girlfriend, Erin, played by Kelley Estes, to a party down the road. Cole, the brooding older man is veteran local actor Rick Park. At the end of the first act, after a long ambivalent scene between Cole and Honey involving a good deal of sexual innuendo, followed by a lengthy confessional monologue from Cole, the girl's leave. Cole and Troy face off, the incipient mystery rears its head, resulting in a "significant" curtain line. There's a suspicion that a play might develop in the second act, but the first has the air of a padded one-act, and with editing, would play well as such, though probably not in ten minutes.
What develops in the second part of this new-age grand guignol, however, is a series of vaguely Absurdist confrontations between Troy and Cole which become increasingly violent. Cole's fixation with his role in the massacre at Jonestown is delved into but never quite believable. By the conclusion, the question becomes who will kill who, with no clear reason why. We're in Shepard country without a map. "Hiding Behind Comets," which takes its title from an oblique reference to the suicidal Heaven's Gate cult, trades on the fading memory of senseless mass suicides to create melodramatic frisson with no real purpose other than violence for its own sake. While "stuff happens" may be the message of the evening news--and the current political morass--more is expected of drama.
Director/designer David J. Miller has once again found a current script for Zeitgeist with limited moral value, given it a realistic production, and invited an audience. With the other choices currently available around town, he shouldn't be surprised if they don't come. Like the set, which is very realistic to each side, there's something missing in the writing which can't be salvaged by Park's impressive acting skills, even with a better director. The main wall behind the action, which includes two entrances and a window involved in the action, is merely one side of the black box. As for the rest of the cast, Raposa manages to keep up most of the time, but the two recent theatre grads playing the girls are left far behind.
Lighting by Jeff Adelberg is sufficiently realistic, successfully fading to the theatrical when appropriate. Tracy Campbell's country sleaze costumes are most of the characterization for the two women. Park's mercenary fatigues are appropriate, as is Ramposa's T-Shirt simplicity. It's Dykstra's cynical storytelling, rooted in B-movie cliches and requiring only low-grade TV acting which makes this contemporary exercise essentially futile. The audience is left wondering if they've just watched a staged treatment for a low budget M or X rated film. Or whatever.