Nanna Jo (Kathleen O’Neill) is about to go on a missionary trip to Africa, when suddenly her son, Jimmy (Gary Hilborn), comes bursting through her door. Distressed, he confesses he had just beaten his son so badly he had to call an ambulance. Now here they are, having to confront the next few days while waiting for the cops to come take him. And that’s how “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” by Carol Carpenter begins its deep exploration of old family values against the fast-approaching modern world within this dysfunctional West Texas clan.
The bulk of the play takes place in the hospital room where Tyler (Dino Petrera) lies lifeless while people come in and out, hoping for him to wake up and confronting each other about what brought them all here. The overprotective bible belt grandmother that wants him to be raised correctly, in this small town where he can feel “safe,” the cool aunt Jennifer (Carol Hickey), a big city girl with a great job that never wanted children, but is hand-picked by Jimmy to raise Tyler in his absence, and Tyler’s mother Suzanne (Deanna McGovern) who wants to keep Tyler even though everybody seems sure she is not fit for it. And last but not least, Tyler’s teacher Kendall (David Stallings,) who had to go through a similar situation years earlier and now is here to console his attacker’s son.
As the play develops, we get to know these characters and their dilemmas. The old ways Nanna Jo misses so much are the same ones not letting her say the word gay and accept her loving grandson entirely as he is. Jimmy is full of violent rage he can barely contain thanks to a life of misery. Jennifer is haunted by the fact that she hasn’t done more to stop her brother, and then there’s Suzanne who is as immature as she is inept at being a mother. The actors, who seem to be trying most of the time not to sound preachy, play all these characters to their full strength. You see, the characters are full characters; they are flawed and beautiful in it. They are honest and believable. Somehow, the characters are written better than the actual story
And that is my issue — the story was repetitive and sometimes the writer seems to be looking to say something important, instead of letting the story itself tell it. What happens then is that the characters that are so well developed end up being very one-dimensional. Their speech let the actors play with the emotions, but when you get to the meat of the dialogue you can tell they can only do so much. Don’t get me wrong, I was still very interested in the play. I was actually enjoying myself, but as the play unfolded I realized my enjoyment was diminishing and I was thinking more of going to the bathroom.
Which is a shame, the play had the potential of being very important. Plays about small town communities dealing with such themes this way are rare, and barely this good. But I feel they touch and flirt with that importance just to let it go with convenient truths and twists that are unnecessary. The fact that Kendall had just came back to the town where he was almost killed, ends up teaching the kid of his attacker, and then the same guy assaults the kid the same way…way too convenient. His character is played excellently by David Stallings, who gives him life without drawing attention to his sexuality. It was too bad his character feels out of place thanks to his backstory. Carol Hickey is the other standout in this show, as she shows vulnerability with ease, while keeping her dominant personality intact. Deanna McGovern, plays trashy well, keeps the laughs coming and her breakdown seems more honest than that of Gary Hilborn. Gary on the other hand gives us a wooden performance as Jimmy. Unhinged, even when he tries to look for sympathy, he can’t get none. A better performance could have achieved that. And then we have Nanna Jo, who switches between excellence and being too loud. Sometimes her voice distracted me, since she seemed to be projecting for a bigger house than where they are. I know that’s very nit-picky, but it took me away from very sincere moments that were happening on stage.
All in all, it builds up to an explosion of emotions in which everyone decides a move together, finally reaching that understanding they were trying to get and find their way to a satisfying ending. What started as a great statement ends in an preachy whimper.
The play is being presented at the The Theater at The 14th Street Y and it runs for the next three weeks. I urge you to watch it despite my opinion. The set is a beautiful piece of stage design, even when it has a distracting projection that has nothing to do with the play itself. The lighting design also deserves mention as it brought a sense of reality to the play. Director’s Joan Kane’s work is one to take notice. She did as best she could to make this feel as important as the writer thought it was. And that’s my bottom line, it’s an extremely well put production of a play that still needs some refining. I urge you to watch it, because at the end this is my opinion and this play may touch you in a way it didn’t touch me.
Manhattan Theatre Works & Goode Productions present “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” at The Theater Series at The 14th Street Y, 344 East 14th Street, from October 18 till October 25. Written by Carol Carpenter, and Directed by Joan Kane.
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