Skin and Bones
Skin and Bones
By Jacqueline Goldfinger
Directed by Katrina Ploof
New Playfest 2015
Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando FL</strong>
It’s time for the Shakes staff to test market a stack of new material for next year’s season. Once upon a time (about 10 years ago) Play Fest was a Fringe – like opportunity to watch writers refine their work; this germ of goodness never caught on; even I don’t want to watch people struggle with plot points, motivation and subtext; that’s way too private an experience to share. But now we are looking at shows that may have had a few real productions and the authors are doing some fine tuning. I won’t see everything in this year’s lineup but here’s my heads up for your future viewing experience:
Skin and Bones claims to be a “Florida Gothic” story, and the author pointed out tonight’s audience got more of the in-state references than previous workshop audiences. Midge (Elizabeth T Murff) and Madge (Kate Ingraham) run a ramshackle B&B somewhere off that “Main Highway” that defines every mythical small town in America. They haven’t had a guest in years; not even the building inspector or the sheriff; so when Emma (Katheryn Miller) drops in it’s a thrill. She’s broke and all alone: how sad, yet how deliciously convenient! Dinner will be delicious. The “B” plot has Ronnie (Kevin Zepf) trying to evict the girls; he has a permit to bulldoze the building for a Walmart and his verbal battles with Midge are brilliant. Walmart may be evil and soulless but not as evil and soulless as Madge and Midge; their mandatory deep, dark secret reveals itself as we realize that the “Stars and Bars” aren’t the only Southern Heritage that most sane people reject. The story takes a while to get rolling as Ingram and Murf offer brilliant bickering that seems atmospheric rather than plot driven. Zepf and Miller are the two clean cut kids that ought to get together but not in this vale of tears; each has a higher plot calling tonight. It’s all artfully crafted but here’s the part of the story that need fixing: as we wrap up there’s an exceptionally clean and clear point where the lights dim and we applauded, but the show still has a few minutes to go. Those minutes are equally as good, but we punters only can deal with one not both. If those two things can be tucked together a bit more tightly this journey down the Geechee back roads of Alachua County are worth standing in the heat with our thumbs out.
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