The 14th Annual Fritz Blitz is in town Thursday to Sunday, thru September 17th, 2006. This week there is a single play. Next week three, the third week four, and the final week plays by the successful Los Angeles playwright Mary Steelsmith. Steelsmith's full-length, Isaac, I Am just won the prestigious Helford Prize. We are looking forward to her short plays.
Opening the festival this weekend is L.A. playwright Kristen Lazarian's Push. Robert May directs a cast of young folks, many we are seeing at Fritz Blitz for the first time. They are Brennan Taylor, Shondra Mirelle, Landon Vaughn, Anahid Shahrik, Sonya Bender, Tim Schubert, and Katie Rodda.
Push opens with two couples, a TV reporter and his art gallery-owner wife and a divorce attorney and his wife, into women's wear, at dinner in a tony restaurant owned by Charlotte. We quickly see a strange, not totally motivated tension between the TV reporter and his wife. The repartee is quick, amusing and, occasionally stinging. The term push is explained in the gambling sense but is certainly only one of the meanings that could be used for play's title. Relationships are pushed frequently. Not only the relationships between husband and wife, but between others, as the first act nicely sets up a scenario of potential infidelity.
The two wives are off to New York from Los Angeles. One is on a buying trip, and the other is with an artist she will be showing in her gallery. Both husbands are left home alone. The TV commentator meets a lovely young lady, and the sparks fly. The restaurant and bar owner, Charlotte, observes.
The second act extends some of the first-act scenes, revealing a bit of intrigue and certainly more contact. The final scene underwhelms and causes some consternation. While we don't expect everything packaged with a nice bow at the end, we do expect that the logic of the finale to complement the rest of the play.
The cast, after a shaky first scene, proves strong and, many times, quite dynamic. The direction and staging design work well for Push. Director May is burdened with at least seven locations and a couple of serious costume changes. The cast make that all happen with very little black between scenes.
Lazarian, like many new playwrights, uses many scenes and many locations in telling her story. The burden falls upon the production to pull it off. This is often a burden that tighter writing and better story telling could eliminate. Ginger Harris does an excellent job of designing the multiple-area lighting.
Push does have some really poignant moments, and its relationships are believable, even though some subplots are left hanging.
