He Did It
Pegasus Playlab
By Rachel Lynett
Directed by Michael Wainstein
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL
Here’s a topic that’s been on all our minds: If an artist creates a body of work that is widely loved, but that artist engages in a despicable act, must that oeuvre of work be purged from our collective society? Lex (Tanesha Bridenback) wrote a hit web cast with unseen partner Jefferson, and now they’ve signed a big-time network contract. The checks are cashed, the money spent, and they can’t NOT do the project. Problem? Jefferson may have raped Bryn (Emily Williams) who’s on their production crew. It was a few years ago, and they kept seeing each other, so…was it really a rape? Rough sex? A tale mis-told? If they rat him out, that may be the end of this chance. If they keep silent, the bucks flow in but what have they done morally?
It’s good, solid material here even if the storyline is circular. The debate between these women maps the way real people debate these things: Would I? Should I? Did it really happen? Strident Ada (Michelle LoRicco) crashes the party and turns the volume knob up even higher. These are hard-drinking women and the drugs flow freely; they just never get to sloppy drunk state which would emphasize the bad choices they debate. What we have here is women acting bad on stage, and perhaps some poor decisions that would be handled better were everyone hung over, if not sobered up. But what fun would THAT be?
