Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box is not for the faint of heart. It is an intense story of three dramatically different, terminally ill patients and their loved ones. The setting is a hospital campus. The playwright's inspiration was his personal experience with two of his friends with terminal cancer. Still, it is not a depressing play, rather an insightful one with touches of humor.
Shadow Box has become a much-studied play and is used often as a reading and a source inspiration and solace for patients. Under Jim Caputo's direction, the play lets us watch and understand the various emotions experienced by people who are faced with the inevitable.
Scripps Ranch Theater's stage is occupied by three distinctly separate cottages, while the downstage area becomes various exteriors. To our right is the exterior of the cottage occupied by Joe (Joe Solazzo), a cancer patient, his wife Maggie (Kaly McKenna), and their young son Steve (Jacob Gardenswartz). Their story explores the intense emotions of a wife who is about to become a single parent.
McKenna's performance is powerfully dramatic in contrast to Solazzo's Joe, who accepts his fate with a gentle calmness. Son Steve has not grasped the situation or is masking his feelings, preferring to be more interested in his preteen activities.
Stage center we meet Brian (Eddie Yaroch), who is in residence. He is visited by his ex-wife Beverly (Allison MacDonald). Here, tension develops between her and his current lover Mark (James P. Darvas). Both love Brian very much, and with Brian's present condition, the emotions run high.
To our left are mother and daughter, Felicity (Marty Salkin) and Agnes (Michelle DeFrancesco). Felicity is confined to a wheelchair and has extremely limited speaking ability. Caregiver Agnes, while in the agony of participating in the final days of Felicity, experiences strong mixed emotions.
In an insightfully written and brilliantly executed speech, Agnes reveals her deepest and, at times, darkest emotions.
Finally, there is the interviewer (Pamela Fadden), whom we first hear only as a disembodied voice. Finally on stage, pad and chart in hand, she is asking important questions and giving The Shadow Box a realistic added dimension.
This is not a maudlin piece; in fact, it can even be uplifting. Director Caputo's sound design accents the mood of the moment. Mitchell Simkovsky's varied lighting design properly accents each of the many scenes and locations. Costumes by Debbie Blue nicely define each group.
The Shadow Box illustrates the complexity and varied emotions that accompany both the dying and the living. One feels that these are very real people—not characters in a play—experiencing a stressful point in their lives.
