BRIGHT COMEDY, DARK MOODS
                SFPlayhouse Peruses Dysfunctional Families 
                                              By Carol Benet
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater
                                                                 Weeks starting July 1-8, 2011
                                                                 Vol. 13, No. 113

         Can a play be both bright and dark at the same time? SFPlayhouse once again shows itself one of the best theaters in the Bay Area with the latest concoction in contrasts, Tigers Be Still.
            There are so many truisms in this delightful new comedy that, despite its darkness, this romp that left the audience both laughing and feeling akin to the situation over and over.
            Written by the rising-star playwright Kim Rosenstock, Tigers Be Still deals with two dysfunctional families and their intersection. Sherry just got her MA degree in art therapy and after sending out over 50 resumes (and receiving not one response) she joined her sister and mother in their severe depressions.  Sound bad so far?  It isn’t.  It’s hilarious.
            Sherry (Melissa Quine) is now functional because her mother (whom we hear but never see) called a high school friend Joseph and he found a job for Sherry.  Joseph (Remi Sandri), a former beau, is the principal of an elementary school.  He hired Sherry with only one favor to ask of her.  Could she give his son Zack some therapy and use him as a teacher’s assistant? 
            Zack (Jeremy Kahn) is a mess.  He slouches around, never looks anyone in the eye, is not understandable when he does mumble and is trying to hold down a job at CVS, from which he is soon fired because he has an anger control problem. 
            Sister Grace (Rebecca Schweitzer) is not much better, but for different reasons.  Her long term boyfriend broke up with her and all she can do is drink Jack Daniels, lie on the couch and watch her favorite movie, Top Gun.  For one, she has dognapped the boyfriend’s dogs and locked them in the cellar.  Other acts of revenge are forthcoming, one funnier than the next. 
            But the plot thickens.  We find out about Zack’s problem and that Joseph, his recently widowed father, was in love with the girls’ mother but hasn’t seen her in almost 40 years. The girls’ mother was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and the steroids she took made her gain 90 pounds.  She locked her self in the upstairs bedroom, her husband left and she only communicates with the girls, mostly the least dysfunctional one Sherry, by telephone.  The one-ended conversations, with the mother’s loud indistinguishable patter on the other end, are extremely funny thanks to the perfect comedic timing of Sherry.
            As director, Amy Glazer is a whiz, knowing exactly how to stage and pace a play.  There is a certain rhythm to comedy with pauses, questions, retorts and monologues that have to be perfect that she and her actors achieve.
            And bravo to Bill English for another superb set.   Sherry’s living room, afghan on couch and all the little items that make up their lives, also serves as the dining room of Joseph,  the classroom, the pharmacy where the drama moves and the school auditorium where Joseph announces that a tiger has escaped from a near-by zoo.  This crisis, hovering over all, is just another one in the fast paced comedy, Tigers Be Still.
            Also bravi to Michael Oesch (Light), Brendan Aanes (Sound) and Miyuki Bierlein (Costumes) and Bill English, who makes many of the fine sets for the theater; he is also the Artistic Director and with Producing Director Susi Damilano, co-founders of the troupe.  They consistently come up with interesting, amusing and thought-provoking repertoire.
            (Ed. note: Apologies to our readers for the delayed report, caused by ISP problems.)
            Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still runs at the intimate SFPlayhouse, upstairs at 588 Sutter Street (near Powell), San Francisco, through July 30.  For info: (415) 677-9597 or go online.

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        © Carol Benet 2011
        Carol Benet is a regular theater reviewer for artssf.com.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly)focus on theater, dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into recordings by local artists, and a few departures into books (by authors of the region)as well.
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