Reflections on “Recent Tragic Events”

Play inspires introspection and provocation.

By Jolene Munch

Wright’s play opens with Waverly (Holly Twyford) -- a sassy advertising exec whose twin sister is missing in New York -- preparing for her blind date. Peter Jennings is droning on a television downstage. Enter Eric Sutton as Andrew, a literary aficionado who manages an airport bookstore, as Waverly’s date of choice. Moments later, her musician next-door neighbor Ron, quips, “Blind date, huh? That’s some cosmic shit… ”

From this point forward the evening takes uncontrollable yet entirely foreseen twists that inevitably end in a pre-determined result. Or is it? This is precisely the question that “Recent Tragic Events” asks, and demands that its audience answer (or at the very least, ponder).

Based on the philosophical conundrum of free will versus determinism, the play is, in reality, more about the choices we make every day and the actions that subsequently follow than the specific events on that fateful day last year. Sept. 11, instead, acts as a natural catalyst for raising the important existentialist questions we tend to ignore when life is peaceful and predictable. The consummately practical Waverly tells Andrew, “Yesterday, I woke up and thought, ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ Today I woke up and thought, ‘What’s going to happen to me?’”

“I was inspired to write ‘Recent Tragic Events’ by the deep sense of inevitability that hit me when I logged onto AOL the morning of 9/11 and saw the image of the planes lodged in the burning towers,” says Wright. “The situation was interpreted by the media as an event of gargantuan unlikeliness; and yet, all I could think at the time was, ‘Of course.’”

Although the script does not offer a salient dramatic curve or the typical conventions of a blind date scenario, Wright has developed a plot infused with heart-breaking drama, luminous dialogue, and a dash of nutty physical comedy. There are no long George Bernard Shaw tangents or the usual contemporary cynicism here. On the contrary, the piece is honest and forthright in its motive and direction. The stage manager explains at the beginning the unusual premise that things could develop differently throughout the course of the play. The rest of the exposition is either bold reality or pure magic. The joy is that the audience chooses which.

Michael John Garcés’ direction manifests in such interesting and engaging turns that we’re never quite afforded the opportunity to sit back and process what we’ve witnessed; instead we soak it in like a sponge absorbing water, waiting to be wrung out later. His delicate treatment of the cleverly written script is evident in each uncomfortable pause, silence, and speech. Actions are appropriately addressed, as though these events did, in fact, happen yesterday, and we become suspended in a day in time when every hour was a day, and every day was a week.

Holly Twyford’s Waverly is at once soft and vulnerable, caustic and ruthless. Her tender moment of despair and hope as she leaves a message for her missing sister is all too familiar. However, she is at her best when she indulges us with her quirky physical comedy and radical enthusiasm.

Although Michael Ray Escamilla (Ron) and Dori Legg (whose spectacular characters should go unnamed) give truly exceptional, outstanding character performances, it is Eric Sutton as Twyford’s date who is perfection. Sutton’s quiet realism and noble portrayal of a man with the burden of an unsettling truth is simply stunning. Both Escamilla and Legg provide adequate backbone throughout the performance, and their classic comic timing is fodder for unexpected yet unabashed humor throughout a completely unsuspecting drama.

Add in the wonderful (that is, “capable of eliciting wonder”) lighting design of the talented Lisa L. Ogonowski on Daniel Ettinger’s gorgeous set, and you have two hours of unbelievable aesthetics.

“Recent Tragic Events” represents everything good theatre is about, and nothing that is typical, ordinary, or mundane. It is the quintessential example of a captivating piece of art that inspires, provokes, and lingers.

Now that, as “Ron” would say, is some pretty “cosmic shit.”

"Recent Tragic Events" is playing through Oct 5. For tickets, call 800-494-8497or visit www.woollymammoth.net

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Jolene Munch is a self-proclaimed freelance theatre junkie, philosopher, and Pisces with a bad habit of actually trying to satiate her muse by pursuing her relentless "life in the theatre" calling. Transplanted from the Land Theater Forgot (a.k.a. Florida), she is a proud resident of the District of Columbia and wonders when she will land her national television spot as the quirky redhead next-door neighbor.

Photo by Stan Barouh