Review: Dead White Males by Sustainable Theatre Project

by Michael Meigs
Published on September 14, 2010

Saving the piece from its forced absurdities are the performances of two in the cast: Suzanne Balling with the obligatory role for anti-fascist drama of the common man (here, woman) driven to question hollow authority, and Dennis Kelleher Bailey as the pedophile principal, flawed and aware of it.

Fascism isn't funny but it offers huge targets for satire.    The premise is familiar: an eager novice takes up a new calling, infused with idealism, and finds that not only is the actual day-to-day work grueling but the authorities are self-serving, hypocritical and exploitative.    Dead White Males is a valentine to those teacher-victims and a savage attack on administrators of educational systems.  The Sustainable Theatre Project stretches a bit by linking the play to …

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Review: Jack and Jill by Sustainable Theatre Project

by Michael Meigs
Published on March 20, 2010

Jack and Jill is an amusement for 20-somethings and 30-somethings, or perhaps for the recently divorced, individuals who are reaching out or who have been sharply slapped back.

Jack and Jill is "a romance," according to playwright Jane Martin, the mysterious alter ego of Jon Jory, retired artistic director of the Theatre of Louisville.  The Mother Goose reference implies a jaunty comedy approach, but Jack and Jill is anything but that.   Martin's two-character play is energetic and witty, but it's a portrait of two individuals incapable of merging two I's into a We.  Jack is a big, bashful stumbling guy, all thumbs and vulnerability -- …

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