Matt Letscher’s “Demolition” on Stage at Pacific Residence Theatre

Center Stage With…

Lady Beverly Cohn

Editor-at-Large

Playwright Matt Letscher has a fabulous ear for dialogue and is a skilled storyteller as demonstrated in the World Premiere of his entertaining play “Demolition.”  Masterfully directed by Max Mayer, who assembled a highly professional Broadway-level cast, each of whom gives a fully actuated, organic, exciting performance.  Making its World Premiere at the Pacific Resident Theatre, the story revolves around the pivotal character of Doug, a blue-collar employee who works in his friend’s construction business serving southeast Michigan.  

Keith Stevenson brilliantly portrays that role, mining every crook and cranny of his seemingly uncomplicated character, avoiding any cliches about workers in that industry. His portrayal could be an acting lesson for young actors in how to crawl inside the skin, heart, and soul of a character, including a very specific “character gesture.”* Chuck, his sleezy boss and friend since college days, is well done by Brian Letscher, whose character is clearly in short supply of ethics.  He assigned Doug to do some repair work on a home owned by Marcy, played by Melissa Weber Bales who gives a sharply-honed performance of a highly neurotic, high-strung woman whose home is where the action takes place on the well-designed set by Jay Tyson.

Doug has been tasked with on-the-job training of his bosses’ son, painfully shy Paul, excellently performed by Ryan Foust as the quiet, seemingly confused, nerdy 14-year-old who is supposed to start college in the fall where he wants to study film.  There is a sadness about him and clearly something is deeply troubling him.  Foust’s understated, but stunning performance will tug at your heartstrings and the source of his anguish will be revealed – or not.  Doug has taken Paul under his wing and tries to impart some basic wisdom, encouraging him to not be so serious and to have some light-hearted fun, advising him to “Use your dick until it falls off.”  The job calls for some touch-up work and in a very surprising moment, Doug takes a big hammer and makes a huge dent in the beautiful new walnut floor.  Paul is flabbergasted but the “professional” Doug explains that it’s industry practice to cause some damage so that the client will appreciate how good we are at repairing stuff.  When our neurotic, anal Marcy re-enters, she goes ballistic when she sees her beautiful floor marred.  With apologies, Doug assures her that it will be as good as new and that the replacement wood will be “A perfect color match.”  When she leaves, he refers to her as a wolverine and is unfazed by her near hysteria.  Meanwhile, Marcy and Chuck have a brief “encounter” which seems to magically alter her up-tight, jittery personality. When Paul sees her again after her “thing” with his father, he comments “She looks different,” which garnered a huge audience laugh, of which there are many throughout Act I. The next character to enter is Chuck’s overwrought wife June, played by Samantha Sloyan, who beautifully characterizes a highly stressed-out woman possessed by her religion, always carrying rosary beads with her. She alternates between popping nicotine tablets and smoking a cigarette.  (Thank you for not using real cigarettes.) To try to calm down, she gets Doug to join her in a moment of prayer.  Apparently, the source of her anxiety is about her son Paul whose locker contained a stash of marijuana.  He insists it does not belong to him and that he was holding it for a female friend who he refuses to identify.  He’s clearly reluctant to say who she is thereby jeopardizing his attending college, as well as possibly having police involvement.  This life-changing issue is thoroughly explored in Act II thanks to the hilarious performance of Tony Pasqualini as Mr. France, the school principal who must get to the bottom of the marijuana problem.  He wants to avoid contacting the police and is annoyed at having to deal with this at the end of the school year.  Mr. France makes it clear he would rather be anywhere else at the moment, taking a swig of booze now and then from the flask tucked away in his pocket to settle him down. So the question is will our young Paul spill the beans on who the stash belongs to or is he willing to torpedo his young life to protect someone or is there another issue?   I especially loved the surprise denouement which I’m sure you will enjoy as much as I did.  Playwright Letscher imbued his characters with  a vast array of human emotions which he deftly inserts into each of his characters as well as illuminating the existential threat inherent in some possible decisions.

When you have a Broadway-caliber play on stage in a small theatre, you are lucky to have an outstanding production team who will support and enhance the play.  This talented team does a yeoman’s job and in addition to Jay Tyson’s Scenic Design, I’d like to give a shout out to Leigh Allen’s Lighting, Chris Moscatiello’s Sound (loved the country music) and Audrey Eisner’s costumes, all coming together to support and enhance the pitch-perfect production of this lively two-act play which at times is laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes risqué,  and sometimes heartbreaking and poignant.  This is an excellent choice for your entertainment dollars – a  theatrical experience you won’t want to miss.

*A “character gesture” is a physical movement connected to a specific character.

DEMOLITION

Pacific Resident Company, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA 90201                                 Genre:  Dramedy                                                                                                                                    Performance Schedule: Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays:  8:00 pm, Sundays: 3:00 pm                Run Time: 2 Hours – One Intermission                                                                Closing:  November 24, 2024                                                                                                    Tickets: Start at $35-45, 55+$10 Discount, Box Office:  310-822-8392 Online: https://pacificresidenttheatre.org/ (Street parking or free lot behind building)