Kate and Sam
Are Not Breaking Up
Written by Joel Kim Booster
Directed by Sarah Gitenstein
Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee (map)
thru Dec 14 | tickets: $15-$20 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Shaky black comedy ends on bittersweet, poignant note
The New Colony presents
Kate and Sam Are Not Breaking Up
Review by Clint May
Well, Curse of the Flat Irons Building, you haven’t been resoundingly lifted just yet, but for the first time, I walked out of a show in your walls not feeling cheated of time. Kate and Sam are Not Breaking Up has elevated my opinion of The New Colony considerably since my last outing. What begins as a farcical black comedy of the ilk of The Ref evolves into a discussion of our escapist culture in the form of celebrity worship. This time around, the journey sprouts from a more honest approach, perhaps because the characters were developed with writer Joel Kim Booster and The New Colony working in tandem. As organic as the approach can be, it leads to some messy edges and contrivances that force a few awkward plot turns, but it’s not the heavy-handed hipsterdom I’ve come to dread, and in fact, its last act is rather poignant.
The scenario is straight out of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s worst nightmare. Two recently separated stars of a young adult book series turned film franchise awake in the hovel of a ComiCon-loving man-child, Bill (Rob Grabowski). Bound by duct-tape, the two quickly take different approaches to their kidnapper: lovable Sam (Nick Delehanty) tries the buddy approach, while icy Kate (Mary Williamson) is unable to suppress her disgust. Soon enough it is revealed that poor oaf Bill is but the puppet of a young sociopath named Becky (Stephanie Shum). Bill has teamed up with the sixteen-year-old to perform a little enforced couples therapy to get Sam and Kate—and their own view of reality as reflecting the tabloid illusions they’ve been feeding on and fed—back where it belongs. Twists and turns ensue as the two couples spar and unravel who they really are, eventually leading them into places they could not have expected.
Mary Williamson, previously so utterly bewitching in Reverb, deserves much of the credit for casting the spell that makes Kate and Sam work. Her face is an ever-active landscape of complex emotions that never flickers out of character, and her eyes burn with a righteous, magnetic fierceness. She’s also given the most meat to chew, and her interactions with Grabowski have a remarkable chemistry. She, the damaged starlet thrust unwittingly into a harsh spotlight; he, a downtrodden former mall cop living in a fictional world. Perhaps both of them are, and theirs is the most fascinating journey. Shum is definitely disturbing as a hyperactive teen trying to manipulate events to her own twisted world, and Delehanty is a charming everyman, but their roles are too rote to compete with the nuances of their co-partners.
Though I didn’t find the dark comedy elements as raucous as my audience members, I did break a grin a few times. Far more interesting is the dramatic undercurrent of a desire for truth under artifices that are not the sole domain of celebrity. Or perhaps it’s the desire to reshape the world to our whims, to ensure that life follows a narrative as hammy and contrived as the scenes Delehanty and Williamson intersperse from their awful movie. As endings go, this one surprises in its bittersweet revelations. While not everything rings true (some healthy belief must be suspended in parts), there’s enough here to mark the beginnings of a riposte from earlier disappointments.
Rating: ★★½
Kate and Sam Are Not Breaking Up continues through December 14th at Collaboraction Room 300, Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm. Tickets are $15-$20 (students/seniors $10), and are available online through Tixato.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More info at TheNewColony.org. (Running time: 90 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Anne Peterson
artists
cast
Nick Delehanty (Sam), Rob Grabowski (Bill), Stephanie Shum (Becky), Mary Williamson (Kate), Nic Belanger, Sasha Smith, Berner Taylor, Shawn Bowers (understudies)
behind the scenes
Sarah Gitenstein (director), Garvin Jellison (production manager), Michael Wax (technical director), Monica Brown (stage manager), John Wilson (scenic designer), Jeff Glass (lighting designer), Curtis Cassell (costume designer), Daniel Carlyon (sound designer), Desiree Arnold (properties designer), Mary Williamson (makeup designer), Chris Rickett (violence designer), Shawn Bowers (asst. director, script supervisor), Anne Peterson (photos)
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