New Review: 32nd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays

Got home yesterday from Humana. My review of the festival is currently on line at Backstage.com, so click here.

And here's a little tease:

Cascading audience laughter erupted during many of the plays at the 32nd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, which ended March 30. But underneath all the humor was usually profound, almost disturbing cynicism.

In Lee Blessing's two-hander Great Falls, for example, a stepfather, identified only as Monkey Man (a splendid Tom Nelis), persuades his sullen stepdaughter Bitch (the shrill Halley Wegryn Gross) to go for a drive. He cheated on Bitch's mother; there's no debating whether Bitch is right to resent him for it. Still, his intention is to explain that, events aside, their relationship needn't fundamentally change. Bitch's hilarious opening line warns him that he'll be raped in prison for kidnapping a minor. It's going to be a long drive.

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