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Saturday, Nov 07, 2009
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Powerful ending of BFE redeems its shortcomings |
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| Powerful ending of BFE redeems its shortcomings | ||
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by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid -
SGN A&E Writer BFE DIRECTED BY LETICIA LOPEZ STARRING LEAH COHEN-SAPIDA ROBERTA FURST, SAM TSUBOTA, SYDNEY TUCKER TRINA GRIFFIN, SCOTT PLUSQUELLEC, ERIC RIEDMANN, MAIA LEE RICHARD HUGO HOUSE THROUGH MARCH 16 After the ending of Julia Cho's BFE (the letters stand for "Bumf**k, Egypt"), I wasn't sure what to think, but I knew I liked the play, which does meander a bit at the beginning before really getting down to the meat and gristle of things. I immediately liked the character of insecure 14-year-old Panny (played by plucky newcomer Leah Cohen-Sapida), who pulls the audience into the play with her description of how "bad things" often happen where she lives, but it depends on one's point of view. As in, it depends on who those things happen to, and if anyone remembers what happened, or not. She then goes on to blend in with her surroundings, or at least with the two people she interacts with the most, her needy mother (Roberta Furst), and nerdy uncle (Sam Tsubota), with whom she lives. She has one other friend, a classmate who is she wishes to be like, because Nancy (Sydney Tucker) symbolizes everything her mother - who offers to give Panny a plastic surgery fix of her choice on her birthday - thinks is beautiful. Unfortunately, it is girls who look like Nancy - blonde, white girls - who are being found mutilated, victims of an anonymous serial killer. Things heat up a little more in the second half, after Uncle Lefty (Tsubota), who works as security at an unnamed store, meets a salesclerk in the same store and they move toward dating. Also, mom fantasizes about meeting General McArthur (Eric Riedmann), but instead meets a pizza deliveryman, who at first doesn't get it that she's coming on to him, but finally has an awkward hookup with her. All of this serves as background, as do the sporadic letters from a Korean pen pal (Maia Lee), who also idolizes supposed "superior American beauty," and the accidental phone meeting between Panny and an older student via her trying to reach her friend Nancy (the male student is played convincingly by newcomer Lincoln Grisner). Everything builds to a doomed meeting with Hugo, the student (Grisner), which goes awry after the appearance of bubbly, blonde Nancy, after which Panny finds herself as the one bad things are happening to. A delicately woven look at imagined beauty, the thin line between that same supposed beauty and the darkness in the minds of those who both hate and love that beauty, and loss of innocence, BFE is one worth being patient with. Believe me, you'll be glad you sat through a rather tepid beginning, for the powerful ending that makes this one of the year's best plays. For more information on times and dates, call 323-9443, or go online to www.sis-productions.org. |
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