Theater Review by Myra Chanin . . . .
Bribe Whomever You Can for a Last Minute Ticket to The Cancellation of Lauren Fein’s final extension at the Palm Beach Dramaworks!!!
If anyone wants to kick me in the ass for waiting ‘til the last week of the twice extended run to see the World Premiere of Cristopher Demos-Brown, Esq.’s The Cancellation of Lauren Fein, you’ll have to get in line behind me who’ll be kicking myself in the ass several times first. I do have an excuse. I was felled by a touch of pneumonia, but I’m sure that seeing this exceptional drama earlier would have cured my ailment far more quickly than the mightiest antibiotics ever could.
The playwright, Christopher Demos-Brown, Esq., has led a fascinating, multi-faceted life which has rewarded him with a witty, sharp, and honest way with words, along with perfectly appropriate phrases for any actor fortunate enough to have been selected to utter them. Even though this play is said to be an homage to Arthur Miller, I never found Arthur Miller as witty as Demos-Brown who displays as sharp a command of the English language as George Bernard Shaw would, were he alive and writing today. Demos-Brown was born in Philadelphia, moved with his family to Miami when he was eight, then attended Dartmouth, where he majored in Russian and minored in history with the goal of joining the US Foreign Service. At Dartmouth, his interest in the performing arts was piqued and he acted in several stage productions and directed some short plays before spending two years in LA pursuing an acting career. He admits he wanted to be an actor in the worst way—and succeeded in becoming an actor in the worst way—before shifting his focus to playwriting. Returning to the East Coast, he graduated from the Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and the University of Geneva in 1992 before becoming a prosecutor in Miami; but he kept writing plays, and now has over a dozen full-length plays and screenplays to his credit, as well as multiple Carbonell and Silver Palm Awards for Best New Works; and, a Broadway show, American Son, directed by Kenny Leon and starring Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale and Jeremy Jordan, which Netflix made into a movie that was nominated for a Primetime Award.
Whew! Now let us follow Hamlet’s direction and return to the play, which is the thing.
Professor Lauren Fein (Niki Fridh) is a brilliant, lauded Jewish biological researcher. She and her Latino wife, Paola Moreno (Diana Gable), a drama professor at the same prestigious American university, and Dylan (Malcolm Callender)—their 16-year-old African-American foster son for whom they’ve cared since his infancy—are a poster family for diversity, equity, and inclusion until, as a favor, Fein agrees to teach an undergraduate biology course on sex and reproduction, during which she digresses to speak about insects, a field in which she’s considered an expert, and the sickle cell trait, an aberration which allows those born with it to ward off malaria, a boon to anyone living in Africa where the disease is rampant. Fein points out, in an aside, that for Africans enslaved in the South, avoiding malaria was less of a problem—which a probably white, privileged undergrad interpreted as Dr. Fein claiming that being enslaved was a good thing, and she was reported to Dr. Marilyn Whitney (Karen Stephens), the recently elevated African-American University Dean who Fein mistakenly considers a close friend. The Dean is closer to the clique at Human Resources, with whom she shares the complaint, and is told to keep the identity of the complainant confidential.
Instead of filing the student’s email where the sun don’t shine, the Dean opens an investigation to prove her devotion to the University’s DEI policies. She tells Dr. Fein to apologize to the mystery correspondent, whose identity is now common knowledge to all but the accused. Why? Because Human Resources has more leaks than a sieve. When Dr. Fein refuses to apologize, the investigation is turned over to the classic group of three witches, two of them WASPs: Melanie Jones (Lindsey Corey), the University’s more hostile than legally knowledgeable prosecutor; and Loraine Miller (Barbara Sloan) a white-haired, rigid, Judge who lacks trial creds. Odera Adimorah as Dr. Fein’s Nigerian co-researcher and Bruce Linser as Paola Morena’s friend Evan Reynolds deserve equally extensive commendation.
Now, let’s follow the money. It is substantial. Dr. Fein has an $11,000,000 research grant which, unless she’s totally disgraced to the point of being unemployable, will follow her to whatever tenure employs her next and interfere with those millions being switched to someplace equally noble, like the Gender Studies Department at the present university.
Eventually an email reporting a nameless someone having witnessed Dr. Fein sexually assaulting a female graduate student encourages the three witches to go after Fein—and boy do they! Buddy McGovern (Steven Trovillion) defends her as ardently as playwright Demos-Brown, who personally understands entrapments in the nets of cancel culture from time he spent representing professors entangled in them. Buddy is several cuts above Atticus Finch: smarter, tougher, trickier, and more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of legal procedure, and much more amusing. If I were ever in a jam, Buddy, in his original incantation as Demos-Brown, would certainly be my man. Even if I went to the slammer, I’d march in there smiling.
Margaret M. Ledford boldly and exquisitely directs all the characters from their initial illusions to the heartbreaking, but appropriate and inescapable, denouement.
As always, PBD’s stage is a wonder to behold, thanks to Anne Mundell’s scenic design, Adam J. Thompson’s video design, Rebecca Pancoast’s huge abstract expressionist oil painting, Kirk Bookman’s lighting, and Roger Arnold’s sound.
The greatest appreciation was shown by the entire audience, rising as one to give the performers several well-deserved standing ovations. Among those applauding were a few folks who flew down from the Big Apple. Nuff said.
A matinee and evening performance on Saturday, February 24, and a matinee on Sunday may be entirely sold out, but getting a ticket is worth a try.
The Cancellation of Laura Fein. Through February 25 at Palm Beach Dramaworks (201 Clematis St, West Palm Beach, Florida). www.PalmBeachDramaworks.org
Photos: Alicia Donelan (except where otherwise indicated)
