Human Nature
By KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer 1/30/2007
Joseph Gomez stars in the Nightingale Theater production of "Humans." JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World
In new performance, the parts are more than equal to the sum
The monologue is a tricky little thing, an exercise often relegated to auditions and acting class exercises that leaves even an interested listener wondering about the text from which it came.
But when these short pieces stay afloat on their own, you're in for a program that may not always appear to have clarity as a whole, but resonates in its parts.
The 50 Swats Collective, a creative offshoot of the gang running the Nightingale Theater, has assembled a menagerie of monsters, oddballs and average Joe's in "Humans," a showcase of 17 original monologues hinged together on the everyday drama and fault lines of being human.
Perhaps monologue isn't the best description for everything you'll see. Sure, some pieces are character sketches, clips heavy on motive and interior drama. Then there are the scenes in which the authors have allowed things to happen, and character is revealed through reaction to the circumstances.
These -- the guy flubbing the ending to a first date, a bandit's last stand and the wanton woman sweet-talking her next victim, to name a few -- are unexpected and the most interesting work put forward.
Written by Angela Adams, John and Sara Cruncleton, Joseph Gomez, Amy Wilson and Amber Whitlatch, the show is one of the stronger exercises in acting seen at Nightingale Theater. The Cruncletons, Gomez and Heather Sams perform. Percussionist Steve Beard adds to the spontaneity with his own off-kilter rhythms between pieces.
Wilson's work goes even further with pieces loaded with symbolism and poetry -- not always easy to classify or comprehend, especially over the theater's heating system -- but interesting and begging for another look.
Sometimes the collection is scattered -- when the only thing tying everything about "Humans" together is the title.
Watching, it becomes clear that entertainment in its conventional sense is not the foremost concern of the 50 Swats players. There are no attempts to raise the roof and uplift the spirit. Its force arises in the pure exercise of performance -- in characters who rarely get a spotlight.
Crowd-pleasing isn't the aim, although it is a side effect from watching a man confess his propensity for a bodily function to a support group or hearing how a Sunday school teacher responds to a question about heaven.
The scenes we're given may sometimes be raw and unpredictable, but "Humans" doesn't shy away from expressing it.
The show is for a mature audience.
"Humans" continues at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Feb. 8-10 at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St. For tickets, call 633-8666.