The first weekend of Gallery Players' 8th Annual Black Box New Play Festival features five short plays themed "Brooklyn Plays/Brooklyn Playwrights."
The first play, Only the Dead Know Brooklyn, aims at revealing the complex world that Brooklyn is, especially with all its unique neighborhoods. It begins with a surprising fourth-wall breaking staging choice by director Elfin Vogel. While refreshing for the first few minutes, this opening risks becoming uninteresting, as the audience has to crane their necks too much to follow the action. I appreciate the experimental nature of these first moments, but the motionlessness lasts too long.
Actors Todd Isaac, Demetrius Kallas, Steven Viola, Robert Kiernan show commitment in their performances, and deserve praise. The writing on the other hand is difficult to follow. Playwright Michael Bettencourt attempts thought-provoking drama, but it's not clear whether the characters are alive or dead throughout the story. The characters, though strangers in the play, exhibit a forced familiarity with each other that is unconvincing. One of characters supposedly drowns, but there is no explanation as to why that happens, or how the subway platform he is standing on is suddenly used as the fatal body of water that dooms him. There is a random moment at the end where an actor pulls an audience member out of his seat (not a plant) to help carry a character off stage. I'm not sure what Vogel communicates with that choice. Designer Kathleen Leary's costume for Man Three is eye-catching, especially the black-and-white shoes and business tie.....
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