The Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook
The Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook
By Steven Massicotte
Directed by Seth Kubersky
Green Venue
Orlando International Theater Fringe Festival, Orlando, FL</strong>
“Star Wars” may have been the most significant movie of the 20th century, and it changed the way we view Science Fiction forever. No longer B material for a drive-in make out session, it became a splendid canvas for monster effects with a moral message told on a gut level. If you’re in Middle School like our unnamed narrator (Mike Marinaccio) it’s a life changing event. In this fun and fluffy return to childhood with its joys and terrors centered on the classroom, our narrator and his friends James (Christian Kelty) and Karrie (Sarah Jane Fridlich) fall in love with film, act out scenes at recess, and even attempt to master the Force by meditating in burlap robes. Good intentions aren’t enough, though, and attempting the Jedi Mind Trick on their teacher Miss Karpawich fails miserably. The whole class is forced into performing the stage version of the “Charlie Brown Christmas Special.”
Kelty, Fridlich and Marinaccio exude the childlike energy needed to propel this show into orbit. Pre-show we see bits of the little-known “Star Wars Holiday Special” including the hilariously bad “At Home with the Wookie Family.” I’d never seen it, but its like a good car wreck – you want to see more, even though you know it’s bad for you. The best part of the show occurs when Marinaccio is blindfolded and practices with his cardboard tube light saber – the audience is given plastic “training bombs” and we pelt him as he helplessly waves his wand. He hit one, but I chalk it up to dumb luck. While these kids never master the Force, their sincere attempts are better than a night in a Tatooine dive bar.
This show is presented as part of the 17th Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival. Information on times, tickets, and venue location my be found at http://OrlandoFringe.org/</a</em>>
