There is something about live theater that provides room for the little things in life, things that don’t come with trumpets but with little bells, things that don’t move mountains but may move the soul.
That little stuff is what "The Aliens," the play by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker, is made of and the production that opened at Alchemist Theatre Thursday night does the whole thing justice.
The play starts small and stays there, under the careful and thoughtful direction of Jake Brockman and a cast that included two of the very best young actors in this city.
KJ (Evan Koepnick) and Jasper (Claudio Parrone Jr.) are a couple of whatever the opposite of whiz kids are. They are dropouts from life, stuck in a duet that leaves little or no room for anyone or anything else.
Jasper dropped out of high school and now, in his early 30s, has decided he is going to be a novelist. His greatest spurt comes after a telephone call from Andrea, the girl he has just broken up with. His muse is both elusive and ineffective.
KJ dropped out of college after his junior year. He took a trip on the back of Puff the Magic Dragon and hasn’t come down to Earth yet. He slacks and slides in and out of complex rhymes and lyrics to songs that have only a passing resemblance to music. The libretto and score are all deep inside his head.
The spot that has been adopted by the two is the back of a diner somewhere in rural Vermont. It’s a place where they can be together – and alone – without anybody to bother them, including each other.
Dropped into this pas de deux is Evan (Ryan Krueger) a high school junior working at the diner for the summer, before he takes a week off to be a Counselor in Training at a Jewish band camp.
To say that this play begins with a delicate pace is to vastly understate things. The pauses in this production would make Harold Pinter seem like a sprinter. And it is in these quiet places that the story truly takes shape.
Frequently the pause became so excruciating that I found myself leaning forward in my seat and trying not to scream, "Say something!" But the silences are what this relationship between these two is all about.
Evan is dropped into the midst of this and the allure of these two "men" is virtually irresistible to a 17-year-old Jewish kid with mama issues and an uncertain future.
KJ and Jasper initially tweak the kid, but as this triumvirate heads toward the 4th of July the depth of the relationship increases.
If it feels like the process of watching these three is just a setup for the audience, so be it. I won’t spoil the eventual shocker, only to say it’s not that much of a shock. Kind of like the entire play. It just doesn’t seem like much is happening, until there is time to reflect on the fragility of what takes place on this stage.
Parrone and Koepnick are both wonderful young actors. Koepnick is full of the burly bearded kid who took a turn once and couldn’t ever get straightened around. Parrone is the brooder, a role he has nailed on countless occasions. He’s an actor of great presence on a stage and I’d love to see him in something that stretches him out of his comfort zone.
Krueger was able to keep up with the two more experienced actors. He may have seemed a little overcooked as a tremulous teen, but his earnestness made you like him and have hopes that he’d not fall into the same traps as his two buddies.
Jake Brockman, who has worked with the Splinter Group, directed this play and gave it plenty of space to breathe. He’s a talented young man who needs to have more chances to helm a show.
Milwaukee has wonderful theater and the little places like Alchemist and this production driven by DropoutArts, is the kind of thing that just screams for attention. I wish, truly, that the United Performing Arts Fund, which is nearing the end of its drive, could find a way to funnel some money (a pittance would be helpful) to small groups like this.
Don’t make them jump through hoops filling out forms and meeting criteria. If they pay their actors, it’s good enough for me. Just chip in a couple of thousand dollars, informally if you must, and let’s nurture this kind of theater.
"The Aliens" runs through June 11 and information on showtimes and tickets is available here.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
This whole Internet thing continues to baffle him, but he's willing to play the game as long as OnMilwaukee.com keeps lending him a helping hand. He is constantly amazed that just a few dedicated people can provide so much news and information to a hungry public.
Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
