Have you seen Boomer?

09/01/2024

Have you seen Boomer? by Robert Kerr

An absurdist piece that highlights the repetition of Jess and Marc's relationship where they are forced to grapple with the questions, feelings, and secrets, both mundane and profound, that they have avoided confronting for too long.


All photos taken by Zachary O'Shaughnessy


"[...] Kerr's play is a perfect season opener, where the group first presented it as a staged reading in July of 2023. Now it comes to life in all of its repetition and containment in the intimate yet more open space of the Main Street Playhouse, which allows the play room to breathe and unravel. [...] Karina Batchelor-Gomez's skillful direction creates a whole world in an environment that is as stark as possible. The set, by scenic artist, Indy Sulliero, is a collection of white walls, which adds to the tediousness. But the production is anything but monotonous. Batchelor-Gomez provides moments of interest. At the start of each scene, the couple walks toward the back wall and circles each other – sometimes smiling, other times not even looking at each other. [...] Weber as Marc and Utset as Jess have the difficult task of bringing life to complicated characters who have to present themselves as one dimensional. But the characters, are in fact, multi-dimensional and the two actors more than succeed in creating this and make it all work when they have much going against them – no props, a purposefully sparse set, drab colored clothes, no shoes and barefoot. [...] Batchelor-Gomez smartly makes sure the pacing of the show overcomes what could be routine. There's skillful work in movement and intimacy director Nicole Perry's bedroom scenes with the couple are some of the best and contain riotously comic moments. - Michelle F. Solomon, Artburst Miami

"[...] However, the thing that truly elevates this work into more than your average domestic drama is the way Kerr's dialogue uses recognizable absurdist techniques in his rendering of the couple's circular arguments. In his hands, the rituals of domesticity and the repetition of grievances, suspicions, and requests acquire an impactfully haunting cadence. [...] Yet there is a world of nuance in the way the two relate to one another, and director Karina Batchelor-Gómez proves herself remarkably adept in bringing out that nuance, guiding the show's cast in layered performances that stunningly reflect their complex dynamic. Thanks to her as well as to the boundless charm and total commitment of actors Bianca Utset and Richard Weber, it's still easy to connect to the wayward pair—which means that the play's revelations of loss and betrayal are viscerally heart-wrenching. [...] Particularly memorable and uproarious were the sequences that explored Jess and Mark's noticeably skewed sexual dynamic. Despite the fact that Kerr's stage directions specify that the play's actors are never to touch one another—nor to use props or even to mime with imaginary objects—the performers manage to convey the "vibe" of the moment clear as day with help from intimacy coordinator Nicole Perry." - Ilana Jael, South Florida Theater Magazine

"[...] Nicole Perry, the show's Movement Director and Intimacy Coordinator creates a choreography that sees the duo moving as one, though in different placements they operate like the synchronous hands of a watch. A "third act reveal" reveals how integral that movement is to Perry's direction. As an Intimacy Coordinator, there is a scene of simulated sex that here, gets the biggest laugh of the entire show, but also evokes such a deeply visceral reaction from the opposite reactions the characters have in response to having carnal relations with the intention of having a baby. At a point, sex becomes part of the couple's routine, which heightens the stakes of the play creating a point of contention. [...] Costume designer Maleeha Naseer outfits the couple in gray sweatshirts and sweatpants, a monochrome uniform that both flattens the characters evoking a sense of leisure as they strut barefoot in their own home, but in another sense, like prisoners. What really heightens this minimalist production is the lighting by Brandon Urrutia, with the spots and fills acting almost as their own character guiding the pair throughout the "house" and an extremely tasteful use of a teal lighting gel to create an eerie, surrealist vibe. Though stark and theatrical in its application, Urrutia's lighting still evokes a domestic interior that creates the sensation of a home. - Jon Manarang, When the Lights Go Out