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Two Rooms by Stone Soup Theatre Company 
With America again deeply involved in Middle East
violence, our San Diego theatre community is putting on a couple timely and
powerful pieces of theatre with the new Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company doing
local playwright Seema Sueko’s Remains about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and Stone Soup Theatre Company producing Lee Blessing’s Two Rooms
– another San Diego-born play that debuted at the La Jolla Playhouse.
The “two rooms” are separated by thousands of miles, but joined by the thoughts, hopes, and fears of their two residents. In one room is American citizen Michael Wells being held hostage by Muslim terrorists in Beirut during the 1980s. The other room is Michael’s study at home in Washington, D.C. where his distraught wife Lainie tries to deal with this horrifying situation – a situation that they must endure for years. Paul Morgavo stars as the hostage, blindfolded for half of the play, trying to maintain his sanity by talking to his wife as if she were there while keeping his sense of humor – though occasionally giving a hint at the fear that must have so often gripped him. But this show is primarily focused on his wife Lainie who struggles with her loneliness, dealing with government representatives and reporters who may or may not have her husband’s best interest in mind, and dreaming dreams that offer her bittersweet reunions with her husband. Rebecca Johannsen, artistic director of Stone Soup, captures the pain and frustration of the wife, delivering the strongest moments of the show as it brings home the devastation brought by such violence to the loved ones of the victims. Julie Sachs is the stiff, coldly professional government representative who tries to keep a detachment from the cases that she handles every day – despite the dreams that haunt her nights. Landon Vaughn is the passionate, idealistic reporter who believes that getting the story out to the public is the best way to help her husband (or is it only an excuse to get the story?). At intervals throughout the play, slideshow images are displayed depicting both the bleak setting of Beirut and happier times for Michael and Lainie Wells, but such images were far more effectively presented on the stage by Michael’s dirty, tattered clothing and skin, the squalid walls of his surroundings, and the dreams that brought her in Michael’s arms again. Although a large number of scene breaks makes the pace of the play choppy and distracting, overall the production is successful in opening a touching and revealing glimpse into the suffering that terrorism can cause on the immediate casualties as well as their helpless, frustrated, and frightened loved ones.Performed through September 26, 2004.
Rob Hopper ~ Cast ~
Michael Wells: Paul Morgavo Lainie Wells: Rebecca Johannsen Walker Harris: Landon Vaughn Ellen Van Oss: Julie Sachs Director: Therese Schneck Stage Manager: Catherine Sharp Lighting/Scenic Designer: Valerie Breyne Costume Designer: Jennifer Gittings Multimedia/Sound Designer: Bart Cameron |