Terry Morgan
Morgan’s Rule #1 about theater reads thusly: When a play doesn’t work, ninety-five percent of the time it’s due to the writing. Sure, sometimes an actor doesn’t quite connect with a part, or some direction is ineffective, but the vast majority of the time the problem is the play itself. And without a solid foundation of great writing, it’s almost impossible to create a successful production. After twenty-six years of reviewing shows, I have some idea what I might reasonably expect, pro and con. The new play at The Road Theatre, the west coast premiere of Erik Gernand’s The Totality of All Things, is a good production with a talented ensemble, but it also disappointed me in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
In August 2015, in the small (“one stoplight and half a Dairy Queen”) town of Lewiston, IN, high school journalism teacher Judith (Christina Carlisi) has put up a display in her classroom commemorating the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. She’s appalled to return to school after a weekend to find this display defaced by a painted swastika. Reactions from those around her are mixed: Principal Frank (Carlos Lacámara) wants the display taken down or covered up with no publicity, her friend and fellow teacher DeeAnn (Meeghan Holloway) is angry about the swastika but might be a bit homophobic herself, and closeted student Micah (Victor Kallett) is feeling unsafe. Judith assigns a deeply unsure Micah to investigate who defaced the display and write an article about it for the school paper. Before long there are huge protests, relationships strained and broken, and death threats as the town disagrees about what truth means and how important it is to them.
Carlisi is smart and sharp as Judith, bringing subtlety and energy to her performance, but unfortunately the role as written devolves into a cartoon of stridency and smugness – an embodiment of how the right demonizes liberals. Carlisi commits completely to the character, to her credit, but as an actor she deserves better writing. Holloway is disarming and funny as DeeAnn, the kind of person who would spell out “s-h-i-t” rather than saying the word. She and Carlisi are both excellent in a barroom scene in which the truths underlying their friendship are uncomfortably revealed.
Lacámara is more sympathetic than one might expect from what seems initially to just be the guy who wants to avoid negative press, and Gloria Ines is humorous and likeable as teacher trainee Ms. Carter, although her role seems somewhat underwritten. Kallett is good as the student thrown into the treacherous maelstrom of journalism and morality, and Gabriel Palma’s acting is strong as teacher Gregg, but unfortunately he is saddled with some of the most troublesome writing in the piece.
Director Taylor Nichols gets detailed and thoughtful work from his cast, and the decision (and I’m not sure if it was Nichols or sound designer David B. Marling who came up with it) to include marching band music in between the scenes creates an effective energy and tension. If I had to guess, I imagine that Gernand intended his play to demonstrate that, right-wing or left-wing, we’re all fallible humans and need to remember that shared humanity. I’d further posit that he also meant to show that sometimes liberals can be overzealous and rigid in their beliefs, just as conservatives can. All well and good.
The play that he delivered, however, seems stacked in the right-wing’s favor. The conservative characters are all polite and friendly and empathetic, to a point. DeeAnn is homophobic but doesn’t want to discuss it: “I am not a bigot. I’m just an old-fashioned Christian.” Gregg argues passionately to defend a very wrongheaded student, but he also delivers an inherent threat to Judith if she makes further trouble. But these are presented as reasonable, nice people with differing views. Judith, on the other hand, is finally shown as a self-righteous monster who doesn’t care about what victims she leaves in her wake. This doesn’t seem like a balanced argument that both sides are human and have their reasons.
Doing a show that urges both sides of the political divide to listen to each other and move forward together seems like it would have been more appropriate to present a decade ago, when it might have been more timely. And therein lies my unexpected disappointment – why put this seemingly anti-liberal show on now? Considering the national nightmare we currently find ourselves in, the timing of this production seems oddly misguided.
The Totality of All Things is presented by The Road Theatre Company at The Road Theatre and plays through May 25, 2025.
Pauline Adamek
