Cleverly Staged Hotel Confrontation

It's the Best Western right across the street from the Federal Building. The intersection of 3^rd and Wisconsin was a little sleepy this past Saturday night. A quick jaunt out from the faltering Grand Avenue Mall and there were directors Juanita Schuelke and Fjosh Redeard in the lobby. Their latest showPink Banana Theatre's production of the Stephen Belber drama Tape was scheduled to start in just a few minutesin a room on the ninth floor. After the elevator ride to the top, a few signs point the way to the room itself.

Walk in and the TV's on. There's a pair of jeans on the bedbelt already threaded through the loops. There's someone in the bathroomevidently getting ready. (Those needing to use a restroom before the show are encouraged to do so in the lower level restrooms. There is no intermission.)

Pink Banana is using a standard double-sized hotel room to stand in for a single. Hotel staff have taken out a bed to make room for a couple of rows of chairs. It's a very intimate space for a dramaoddly, not quite as small as some of the smallest stages in town, but the fact that this is a standard downtown hotel room gives the drama an alarmingly authentic feel. The performance I saw had an audience, directors included, not much bigger than the three-person cast, but this was a dress rehearsal. From what I'd seen Saturday night, there's really no reason why this show shouldn't sell-out every night. Even on dress rehearsal, this is a very tight, emotionally authentic presentation delivered in a very, very unique space with limited seatinga bizarrely hip theatrical experience.

Once everyone's settled-in, the man in the bathroom comes outit's Matt Kemple in a crew cut. He puts on the jeans, checks the TV, turns it off and turns on a stereo. There's a call. A friend has come to see him. In character as Vince, Kemple knoacks back a couple of beers. There's the distinct smell of Pabst hanging in the air for much of the performancemixing as it does with the distinctive smell of a hotel room anywhere in the country. It isn't long before Rob Maass shows up in the role of Jon. Right away, the audience begins to become familiar with these characters. Vince is a volunteer fireman from California. Jon's a struggling filmmaker in town for a local film festivala film he's showing is being screened here. The two are old friendsthey catch-up on old times.  

What follows is a pretty aggressive conversation. Matt Kemple had described the conversation as something of a ping-pong match between Jon and Vince. It's kind of a quaint description given the fact that these two guys are basically trying to tear each other apart psychologically. It starts off very casual, but things get pretty intense over the curse of the brutally brief play. If I recall correctly, the official runtime of the play is something like 80-90 minutes, but Saturday night dress rehearsal swept by in approximately one hour with no intermission. And for one hour, Kemple and Maass did a pretty solid job of delivering what felt like a very authentic conversation. The environment helped out immeasurably. Windows were open, One could here the sound of passing traffic. Briefly there was the sound of a saxophone coming in from the plaza out front of the Grand Avenue Mall. The smell of PBRand the raw, complex intensity of clumsily disguised human aggression. For much of the conversation, Vince is the aggressor. Kemple's quite a bit shorter than Maass, but there's a feistiness about him that gives off quite an intimidating vibe. That crazy intensity slowly builds. Largely an affable comedy guy, Kemple has really tapped into a darker edge of himself here and it's really interesting to watch. For his part, Maass comes across as the civilized animala person who has tried to put certain things behind him in the interest of moving onyet somehow also afraid of exploring his darker side. Maass seemed a bit stiff and hesitant during his first few minutes in the roomone of only two or three things that didn't feel completely authentic during the dress rehearsal. Actually, though, this kind of worked to the advantage of the production, as Jon hasn't seen Vince in years and there's a kind of instability there between them. Not certain why Vince wants to meet with him, he's a bit stiff and hesitant.

The only other bit of the show that didn't feel completely authentic happens when Jon and Vince light up. Up until the point at which Jon and Vince start smoking, everything happening in the hotel room feels like it's actually happening. An audience really doesn't have to do all that much to bridge the gap between the play and reality . . . so there's that od experience when they light up, start smokingand there's no smoke. And the distinctive smell of marijuana isn't in the air . . . Kemple and Maass are good enough at faking it that for a brief moment, I felt like I'd lost my sense of smell. Kind of weird . . . and oddly disorienting.    

Eventually, a girl named Amy shows-up. She's played by Gwen Zupan . . . an actress who has, like the other two in the ensemble, worked pretty extensively with Pink Banana before. Though she appears only relatively briefly at the end of the show, Zupan is given quite a bit of emotional complexity to portray here, Zupan delivers remarkably well on that complexity. As heavy as the drama feels at times, there are brief flashes of levityand a relatively upbeat ending that Zupan adds to immeasurably.

From casual conversation into the depths through profound complexity and through to a satisfyingly light ending, Belber's Tape is a fun, little show with provocative thematic depth for anyone interested in thinking about it. Pink Banana's environmental production is a truly unique theatrical experience not likely to be duplicated or emulated any time soon.

Pink Banana Theatre's production of Stephen Belber's Tape runs November 8-21 at the Best Western Inn Towne at 710 North Old World Third Street. Tickets are only available in advance by calling 414-698-8991 or visiting Pink Banana online.