Tom O'Keefe, Johnny Pruitt,
and Ryan Templeton
in A Hard Wall At High Speed
Photo Credit: Jen Maufrais Kelly
Ashlin Halfnight’s
A Hard Wall at High Speed
Through November 19, 2011
Good Shepherd United Methodist Church
Reviewed
by Arlene McKanic
The reviewer has been saying
his for years, but Ashlin Halfnight’s brilliant
A Hard Wall at High Speed, produced by
the Astoria Performing Arts Center, is making
her say it again: some of the best theater is
going on in Queens. And to hear some producers
speak, the best theater is going to stay in Queens,
as a surprising number of them have no burning
desire to get to Broadway. So, if the theater
aficionado wants to see some really good work,
they’ll have to get on the subway and get
out there.
A Hard Wall at High Speed is about Donnie
and his family, who live in Florida in the early
years of the 21st century. Donnie’s a licensed
pilot, intoxicated by the miracle, beauty and
power of flight, and proud of his role as the
person who introduces other people to it. Then
9/11 happens. It’s learned that Donnie taught
some of the hijackers, and he becomes a victim
of the sheer irrationality that gripped the country
in those days. People actually blame him for the
catastrophe, and he’s made a pariah, unfairly,
illogically and infuriatingly.
Tom O’Keefe is Donnie, heart breaking as
we watch him slide from a responsible, somewhat
uptight family man into a sodden, alcoholic wreck
stripped of one of the things that gave his life
meaning. But the beauty of O’Keefe’s
performance, and Halfnight’s words, lets
us know that Donnie was stripped of some but not
all of his hope. Johnny Pruitt is excellent as
his brother Trout. We first see Trout as a potty-mouthed
dope with his baseball cap on backwards who’s
keeping a floozy in the basement he rents from
his brother. Slowly, their roles are reversed
as tragedy enfolds the family and the nation and
Trout has to quickly grow up.
Sarah Kate Jackson is amazing as June, Donnie’s
wife. While we can see that she loves her husband,
we also know that she doesn’t tolerate nonsense.
When we meet her she’s at a point in her
life and marriage where she simply can’t.
She’s pregnant and the baby is born half
way through the play. She has to be a grown up,
even if her husband won’t be. Jackson’s
talent is such that though she gives full voice
to her resentment and bewilderment, her basic
core of decency and compassion is untouched. Like
O’Keefe’s, hers is an utterly brave
performance.
Marcy, played by Ryan Templeton, is Trout’s
girlfriend, whose intelligence and capacity for
empathy are sometimes hidden behind her scanty
clothing and seeming ditzyness. Yes, she’s
a little bit in love with Donnie, but she has
too much integrity to act on her feelings, no
matter what June thinks. Yes, she’s somewhat
in love with Trout, but is unsure whether she
wants to be a Navy wife. One of the play’s
most riveting scenes is when Donnie locks himself
in his bedroom with a gun when she’s alone
with him in the house, and doesn’t know
what to do. That’s simply it; Marcy’s
terrified, doesn’t know if Donnie’s
going to kill himself, and she doesn’t know
what to do. Templeton lets her character and the
scene do what they both have to do.
The crew is perfection and unshowy about it. Produced
after months of a fraught preproduction period,
Wall is beautifully directed by May Adrales. The
action takes place on one set, meticulously designed
by Stephen K. Dobay, with props designed by Ashley
Cavadas and wonderfully lit by Cat Tate Starmer.
The light coming in through the kitchen window
is so like southern morning sunshine that a transplanted
southerner will bite their lip. The sound, designed
by Nathan A. Roberts, is made up of ordinary noises
you wouldn’t notice but that give the play
another layer of reality till that reality is
punctured by reports of 9/11 over an unseen television.
The costumes, from Marcy’s tiny get-ups
to Trout’s Navy whites, are designed by
Becky Bodurtha.
So here
is what you do. Make a reservation at the The
Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Astoria,
take the N or Q train to 30th Street, and walk
a few blocks to see one of the best plays of the
season.
Ticket Price: Adults:
$18.00; Students/Seniors: $12.00
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/869425
