Everyone needs a good laugh, even at themselves, and this play is a good way to exercise those smile muscles, don’t miss it!
By Carol Edger Germain
A few years ago, right before the point of no return where most of society just gave up and accepted that a cell phone was a sixth appendage of the hand, permanently attached and always active, I read an article entitled “The Disconnectedness of Connectivity,” and sadly realized that being “connected” to everything except your actual life happening in front of your eyes made us 99% disconnected to reality.
That fact of modern life was handled with humor, precision timing, and excellent acting, writing, and direction in the production of “Cafe Society” currently showing at the Odyssey Theater in West LA.
Six people in a Starbucks on Pico Blvd. are going about their daily business from their individual points of view, using Starbucks as their base of operations – acting, working, trying to hook up, chasing their dreams without focus, and just hanging out in a self-imposed fantasyland. Kari (Chandra Lee Schwartz), an actress constantly losing parts because she’s too generically white-bread, is thrilled when another customer thinks she actually is a hooker, since she had just auditioned for the part. Jeff (Eric Wentz), an aimless screenwriter busy composing a story that is likely going nowhere, allows Marilyn (Susan Diol) to mistake him for Bob (Eric Myles Geller), a wealth management professional who she met on a unique dating site and was scheduled to meet at Starbucks in person. When Bob arrives she realizes the switch but pretends not to be herself. Floating through the various personal interactions is a homeless man (Ian Patrick Williams) dressed as Anastasia, who interjects his fantasy into the semi-reality of what is happening at Starbucks with some of the best lines and segues of the play. Darnell (Donalthan Walters), the black barista who surprises everyone with his educational background as well as the fact that he actually doesn’t want to be part of the film industry, ties them all together – until the extremist with the bomb (Nick Cobey) enters, which starts the most hilarious hostage taking scenario you’ve ever seen.
Throughout the play, the Starbucks menu boards periodically become vehicles for displaying what various characters are posting on their phones, and when communication with the police and media begins, it’s nonstop laughs and absurdity. A thoroughly enjoyable comedic take on the obsessions and cliches of modern society, totally but necessarily UN-politically correct, touching lightly on a number of ideologies and norms of society. Although the issue of 24/7 disconnected connectivity kept poking my subconscious, comedy was the meat of the play, and afterward I just kept saying “that was fun!” and laughing again and again at the self-absorbed, oblivious characters presenting almost-caricatures of some of our current daily LA customs. Everyone needs a good laugh, even at themselves, and this play is a good way to exercise those smile muscles, don’t miss it!
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