by Brooke Hall
photos by Philip Laubner and Brooke Hall

Not for the faint of heart, Nancy Murray’s original debut play Asking Questions reminds us why theatre still exists. As new variations on entertainment emerge every day, I see theatre as its own breed of spectacle. It’s real time, every moment is relevant, there is no Take Two, there is no delete button. You can hear the breath of some nameless audience member behind you and see an actor’s chest expand and contract in an attempt to catch their breath in time for the next cue. If that actor wrecks a line, it may go unnoticed as long as they maintain their rhythm. That’s theatre. And we needn’t a laptop or a charged phone battery to make it happen.

In this hyper-digitally-engaged culture, why do we continue to gather around a community stage in search of the elusive catharsis? Can’t we make an App for that already? You would think we’d have already invented a program to replicate the experience of true emotional release for whenever our little hearts desired. But, alas, this is not the case. It appears, after much empirical observation, that we, as a culture, not only want theatre, but we need it. I’d like to offer my gratitude to the players of Asking Questions for doing a stellar job of fulfilling this essential need.

To avoid spoiling the show, and to relieve you of the typical plot summary and the lofty critical essay, I will keep this short.

The play was extremely well cast. A small but fierce crew: Shanna Babbidge, Julia Pickens, Andrew Syropoulos, Kevin Griffin, Erin Boots and Gary Williams.

Artist Heather Joi was called to adorn the set with wildly vivid painted abstractions. The effects created by sound wizard Aran Keating worked to suspend disbelief, conjure the surreal when necessary and to mellow the tone of what was considerably heavy subject matter.

The playwright, Nancy Murray, is a personal friend of mine, so I can be quite confident in her ability to summon the scenario while grounded in her love of life, creation and truth. Being that I also know the director, I can imagine how challenging this material might be to work with, partly because he a is man and partly because he is human. The play is rife with conflict, social taboos, gender politics, parental dilemma, violence, tainted relationships, bad behaviors, and great big lies. I absolutely admire Murray in her boldness to publicly question behaviors that are often swept under the rug. We are left wondering, why does our society tolerate and sometimes abet sick behaviors? And just how much are we responsible for the sick behaviors of others and for our own behaviors? We want to know. Murray asks and the audience is compelled to answer, even if only to themselves.

The play got to me. I cried twice, and was happy for it. In those moments, I was wholly immersed. Flashes of my own past were swirling up inside me like an Oklahoma twister as I was confronted with a number of challenging feelings. As for the characters … I believed them. And somehow in this stark surreal word of real-life make-believe, I could identify with them. To my surprise, I found myself able to identify with each character, independently, at different points in time. If you’ve seen the show, then you know why that might be a smidge frightening to an unsuspecting play-goer. In short, I got what I came for. I got my catharsis.

Compared to live streaming movies from Netflix, Sony PlayStations and every kind of digital entertainment we humans have been able to imagine, real world theatre just wins. And sometimes, when the cast is humming and the director has spent months infusing his lifeblood into the story, magic will happen. Asking Questions is no exception. Without a doubt, magic was afoot at the Fells Point Corner Theater last weekend thanks to director Peter Davis, playwright, Nancy Murray, the Baltimore Playwrights Festival and one hell of a stellar cast. It’s going to keep happening for a few more weekends, so don’t miss it.

If you’re up for something unexpected or a nice go-round of emotional detox, I highly recommend getting out of the house and heading out to the Fells Point Corner Theatre some night during the next two weekends to get a load of this play.

-Brooke Hall

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Asking Questions opened August 12th. and closes Aug 28th. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm. Admission for all shows is $12. For tickets, please go to www.fpct.org.

Meg, the mother, played by Shanna Babbidge.

 

Meg, the mother, played by Shanna Babbidge.

 

 

Curious daughter, Mandy, played by Julia Pickens and her friend Jen, Erin Boots.

 

 

Kevin Griffin Moreno plays Mandi’s father and Shanna Babbidge playing Meg.

 

Andrew Syropoulos, Shanna Babbidge and Kevin Griffin as Doug, Meg and Mark.

Meg and Doug.

 

Mother and daughter: Shanna Babbidge and Julia Pickens

 

Mandi and Jen: Julia Pickens and Erin Boots

Doug and Mark:  Andrew Syropoulos and Kevin Griffin

 

Julia Pickens

 

Erin Boots

 

 

Set designer, artist Heather Joi

 

Director Peter David, an International Man of Mystery

Asking Questions opened August 12th. and closes Aug 28th. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm. Admission for all shows is $12. For tickets, please go to www.fpct.org.