Just like raising a child, it takes a village to put on a show.
Okay, maybe not the whole village, but certainly a large number of dedicated people, most of whom have jobs and families and multiple other commitments to contend with while they make magic onstage for the benefit of the villages in which they live.
And okay, it’s always kind and generous to recognize that everyone contributes what they can do and are competent at to make a show good.
But sometimes you just have to call out individuals who really make a show great.
Case in point: six women who collectively and collaboratively have created an outstanding staged reading production of Lauren Gunderson’s 2023 play Anthropology at SLO REP—which unfortunately runs for one weekend only.
So by the time you are reading this, you likely will have missed an opportunity to see a timely and intriguing play, lovingly produced with what might be mistaken for minimal staging, featuring four exceptional actors whose work is supported by thoughtful direction and meticulous stage management.
Anthropology is a seemingly simple story: a computer programmer refuses to accept her sister’s mysterious disappearance as a closed case, launching her own investigation using the latest technology. The playwright, however, said it is the “toughest, twistiest” play she’s ever written.
That’s because the technology that the techie Merril (Ashley Moses) is using to find her sister Angie (Madison Shaheen) is an artificially intelligent re-creation of the missing sister, and their interactions take place (mostly) through a computer.
This could be complicated for the audience (especially in a staged reading), but thanks to Gunderson’s witty, insightful script and Zoe Saba’s intelligent direction, the actors (who fortuitously are equally talented sisters in real life) take the situation well in hand and make the relationship as believable and as complicated as human family relationships usually are.
Humanity, it turns out (both as counterpoint to technology and in emotional terms) is the underlying bedrock of this work, and Saba skillfully directs audience attention to the characters’ relationships, patterns of behavior, and all-too-human vulnerabilities.
Janet M. Stipicevich as Brin, the sisters’ emotionally damaged mother, and Jessie Kirkwood as Merrill’s emotionally grounded ex, complete the quartet of virtuoso actors who create such a bond with the audience that they received enthusiastic applause not just at play’s end but throughout the opening night performance.
Stage manager Carly Crow is the sixth member of this expert team. Her attention and timing throughout the 90-minute, no-intermission show was seamless and helped create an atmosphere that one audience member called “frightfully real.”
While these six women deserve being called out, they do not by any means act alone. Even as a staged reading, the show benefits from the adept lighting and sound design by Kevin Harris, scenic design by Dave Linfield, and props by Suzy Newman.
All in all, Anthropology reaches for, and without question attains, the goal of an Ubu’s Other Shoe production: the opportunity to experience an incredible play that doesn’t necessarily fit into SLO REP’s regular mainstage season.