Dayna Fields

Archive for the ‘theater reviews’ Category

The performance of Six Women with Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want to Know is a wonderful and refreshing production! Ladies, grab your girlfriends and head to the theater for an evening of “Twilight Zone” frenzy and fun. You might want to leave the husbands at home, however, as the series of skits deals with female taboos, girlhood ideologies and a bit of male bashing.

Six students from the all-girls Stephens college in Columbia, MO threw themselves into this performance, which is as wacky as the title suggests. From the generation gap between mother and children to the competition of a high school reunion to the R-rated world of the married bedroom that is far from the ‘Barbie and Ken’ fantasy, there is hardly a time to stop laughing at the challenges of womanhood.

The first scene was a slow start, especially when it is totally unclear what you’re getting yourself into, but not before long one concedes to uncertainty. The disclaimer “for mature audiences only!” should be heeded, but the luxury is that the young cast took their roles so seriously and wholeheartedly that the underlying messages came through loud and clear in their chaotic skits. They had no problem portraying the worries of an older generation and, for that matter, relating it to their own younger generation.

If you aren’t relating to the scenarios or if the absolute absurdity isn’t your cup of tea, then the cast will certainly grab you with their strong, emotional voices and impressive range. Katie Karel, who sings, “G-d is an Alien”, filled the room with a massive voice and penetrated any anxiety that accompanies a taboo subject. Likewise, Colleen Grate displayed the strength of her vocal chords in a hilarious but sympathetic “I’m Much Too Fat to be Prom Queen”. Molly Denninghoff played a mother of two in “Rambi”, whose fairy tale vision of motherhood is disrupted when she doesn’t like her children as much as she planned to. Denninghoff was as convincing in her quiet and somber monologue as she was empathetic when playing an armed Bambi corrupted by the real world’s cold realities.

The casts’ dedication to the roles keeps this outlandish script just inside the boundary of meaningful. It would have been too easy to botch this production by either going over the top or not going far enough. Besides the slow start, the energy peaks at impeccably climatic moments.

Michael Burke, the director, brings the script to life with audience participation and fabulous use of stage space. The “Get Proud of Me” song, while showcasing the vocal talent of Denninghoff, may have been one of the few skits that missed the mark. But with a severed head on display, it was at very least good for a laugh, however unsettling.

Overall, it was a fabulous performance with the only regret being that they did not have soundtracks for sale. The young cast achieved a night of resonating music, ridiculous fun and realistic issues. It was unspeakably refreshing to finally see six girls on stage who are not competing with each other or fighting for the spotlight, but, instead, working together as a well-oiled machine to give an audience their money’s worth of entertainment. And two hours of entertainment is exactly what the audience got.