By 2010, most independently owned movie theaters around the
United States were transitioning from 35mm film to digital projectors. It was
more accessible and cost-effective, and big studio distributors began to
announce they would soon stop producing 35mm film (Paramount became the first to
do so in 2014). It seems ironic, perhaps, that this time in history would be
captured in a play, but through Sunday, March 19, audiences have a chance to
relive it at the JCC CenterStage in “The Flick” by
Annie Baker.
“The Flick”
opened Off-Broadway in March 2013 to little fanfare, but the play won both the
Obie Award for Playwriting and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize later that year.
In 2014, “The Flick” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was only Baker’s
fifth play, but it quickly established the 30-something as an emerging American
playwright.
The plot of
“The Flick” follows three underpaid movie theater employees in small town
Worcester, Massachusetts. As the play begins, Sam (D. Scott Adams) is training
college-aged Avery (Willis Brooks) on his first day of work. As the two sweep
popcorn and discuss how to clean the soda machine, there are long periods of
silence. But no one’s forgotten their lines; this is an Annie Baker play and
the silences are intentionally written into the script. The third employee,
Rose (Jessica Tasciotti), also works as a
projectionist at the theater, loading 35mm films for each show. What follows is
two and a half hours of mundane conversation and minimal action — or, is it?
Because
Baker’s work often spotlights everyday characters and stories, the settings
play important roles in each show. Here, the set design by Jerry Smith is
particularly surprising for those unfamiliar with the premise of the show: as
audience members walk in, they’re greeted by rows of theater chairs not unlike
those they’re about to occupy for the next few hours. A nondescript wall with
mismatched golden light fixtures stands behind the chairs, and a bright red
carpet littered with popcorn runs down the middle of the rows. A crooked
chandelier hangs haphazardly above. For anyone who’s loved a small, vintage
theater — think Rochester’s Cinema Theater or The Little (which still shows
35mm film) — this set design is a familiar and much beloved sight.
David Runzo, a veteran in local theater circles and University of
Rochester theater professor, directs the intimate cast of four. He has the
tough task of encouraging his actors to explore the silences during this
lengthy show at the risk of boring some audience members. And to his credit, Runzo has done a beautiful job. It’s a show that feels as
though it belongs to the actors (a sign of expert directing) and the actors, in
turn, hand it to the audience.
Here’s where
the trouble comes in for “The Flick” — though it’s not a flaw with the JCC CenterStage production. For those unfamiliar with Baker’s
work, there are two things written into her scripts: setting (noted above) and
silence. The first half of “The Flick” is slow moving. It mimics real life,
where people don’t constantly fill silences, especially not at work. Life is
not inherently fast-paced.
After the
first act ended on Sunday, nearly a quarter of the audience left during
intermission. A man in the back of the auditorium shrugged angrily into his
coat, muttering phrases like “dumb,” “not engaging,” and “waste of time.” It’s
not unusual for Baker’s shows to empty during intermission, though. They aren’t
written for people with short attention spans or those who want empty, easy
entertainment.
The cast of
“The Flick” is flawless. The four actors play characters that will remind
audience members of former loves, their college-aged selves, or perhaps someone
they once worked with. As Sam, the 35-year-old living in his parents’ attic, D.
Scott Adams is the oldest member of the cast. He’s a welcome new face in the
Rochester theater scene, and in this role, he unearths empathy and genuine
likeability for a character that could easily be played as a societal failure.
As new
employee Avery, School of the Arts graduate Willis Brooks brings to life an
awkward, well-meaning film nerd. (He’s juxtaposed with Sam and Rose, who are older
and more worldly wise.) As Rose, Jessica Tasciotti
embodies a recent college graduate who is at once flippant and vulnerable. Like
Adams, Tasciotti could have played a stereotype, but
she chooses to add another layer to a seemingly simple character. Rounding out
the cast with two bit parts is UR student Bill McDonough, who makes the most of
his several lines as a sleepy patron and a new employee.
“The Flick”
is a show for anyone who’s worked a job where their world has grown (perhaps
too) small; for anyone who’s been radically underpaid or thrown together with a
motley crew of coworkers. It’s a show for those who have fallen in love with
the wrong person and stayed in a small town. It’s a show for the everyman, and
a story for film lovers.
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2017.
