Father and Son Search for Themselves in Next Act’s 'Secret Mask'

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Photo via facebook.com/NextActTheatre

Next Act Theatre explores the inner depths of human connection in Rick Chafe’s contemporary father-son drama, The Secret Mask. James Pickering is deeply charming as Ernie—a man recovering from a stroke. As the story begins, his grasp of language is tenuous. Pickering manages profound dignity in his portrayal of someone who has lost a great deal of his identity.

Aware of only a shadow of who he is, Ernie’s anxious to recover and perhaps slightly afraid of what he’ll be when he does so. Drew Parker exudes emotional gravity as Ernie’s son, George. The relationship between father and son is helped along by a tender and compassionate therapist (Tami Workentin) working to help Ernie through the complex journey out of aphasia and into a more self-sufficient life.

Time is fluid in the script. One day becomes the next with great grace. Ernie’s impatience with his own recovery feels tragic as the days slide past, and isolated words become increasingly complex sentences. Pickering handles it all quite well in spite of working with dialogue peppered with words that are only somewhat adjacent to their actual intended meaning.

The dramatic changes in Ernie from one day to the next seem grounded and believable as they permeate Pickering’s performance. Parker touchingly plays a man going through quite a transformation, himself, as he connects with a father he never really knew. Father and son explore the faded fragments of an amnesiac past as both strive to make some sense of family in a world of uncertainty.

Through Dec. 10 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For tickets, call 414-278-0765 or visit nextact.org.