Dear Diary, Burning Leaves, Sammy and Esther: An Appealing Hand

I'll conclude my reviews of the six semi-finalists in the New York New Works (NYNW) Theatre Festival which I saw on Friday night at The Duke on 42nd Street - all short plays - with an anthology review of a handful of three very different kinds of plays -

• One-person plays are always a challenge for the performer, and Christina Dewar came through on this brilliantly in Dear Diary, a meditation on a young woman's coming of age, sexually.  In fact, I'd say Dewar's performance was at times a tour de force.  She delivered her lines, which swung from wise to humorous, and often were both, with aplomb and style.   She also wrote them.  I'd say Christina Dewar is someone to watch as both a playwright and an actress.
• Burning Leaves is "a brief selection of scenes from the full-length" play, so it's a little difficult to judge.  But what I saw is enough to make me want to see the complete play.  Matt Leland left New York City for some unspecified unsetting reason.  He's an actor, 32-years-old, and is trying to reestablish himself as a high school teacher in a small town in the midwest.  He's a caring, sensitive person, and therefore takes time with a troubled male student - who soon wants to sleep with him.  Burning Leaves therefore enters the difficult ethical thicket of what the teacher's appropriate response should be, since saying no for whatever good reason to the student could further shatter the student's already shaky self-image.  Well written by Tom Rowan, with Matt very well acted by David Gow, and as I said, I'd definitely welcome a full version of this play.
• Sammy and Esther Are Breaking Up is a funny NYC straphanger - literally, taking place on one  of our NYC subway cars - in which Sammy comes to terms with Esther, via appearances and interjections from his former relationships.  Definitely good for a laugh.

So, in the sum, these three short plays, as well as the three I reviewed over the weekend, made for a very enjoyable, provocative two+ hours at The Duke last Friday night.  I hope they all go on to own bigger venues, but even if they don't, they've already made their mark in New York and thereby the world.

See also my reviews of the other NYNW semi-finalists: Max & Domino, Frozen West, and The Lady in the Woods.

 

It all started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...