Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Do you ever get up to carry out a chore and by the time you get to where you’re going, you can’t remember why you headed over in the first place“  Of course you do, you’re human.  Now imagine that happens every time you get up to do anything and you’re smack dab in the world of Gray Matters.  In Jacques Lamarre’s play we’re given occasion to see what it’s like when your mind betrays you, as punctuated by a spirited commentary on the current state of “the biz.”

The evening begins quite cleverly by placing the audience in the front row of Ibsen’s Ghosts starring the legendary Sarah Gray (April Woodall).  This show suddenly grinds to an extremely uncomfortable halt when a pinch in her neck renders Sarah unable to continue the performance.  After being diagnosed with a cerebral infarction (insert joke here), Sarah is forced to take stock.

With no memory, money or health insurance she has no choice but to take on a ditzy young actress, Deja (Jen Anaya), as a roommate.  As Sarah watches this young ingénue and her boyfriend’s (Stephen Sherman) successes, she flounders in her own attempts at a comeback.  Guiding her on her path to recovery is Sarah’s agent, Miriam (Kathryn Kates), who challenges her to reemerge by dusting herself off and getting back on the figurative horse.  While the play ends too neatly, it does thoughtfully take the audience through the process of figuring out what to do when you can’t do what you love anymore.

As Sarah Gray, April Woodall carefully deals with the phases of grief that the loss of one’s faculties causes.  Her arc from fearfully frustrated to confidently conformed is no small feat.  Kathryn Kates work as her hard-nosed agent is absolutely top notch.  She has an ease that is exceedingly dynamic and her delivery of the play’s broader thematic elements is a treat to watch.  (Full disclosure: Ms. Kates’ performance is a dead ringer for my own agent, immediately endearing me to her.)

Jen Anaya’s work as her younger foil is entertainingly playful. She brings a youthful hope that is necessary to keep the play from becoming victim-theatre.  She also serves to embody a shift within the theatre community that values commercial accessibility over the classical stage and arguably more disciplined work. While there’s a place for both, Lamarre clearly has a point of view which he conveys through humor rather than spite.  In his role as Deja’s boyfriend Scott, Stephen Sherman seems to miss the mark on several of the play’s clever jokes by delivering them just a tad too heavy-handedly.  This touch robs the audience the opportunity to take pleasure in the punch line with him.

While tempo could have been picked up slightly and some of the sound cues reconsidered, Joshua Lee Ramos’ direction is good.  The scenes between Woodall and Kates are particularly well done.  He’s set the stage for these two women to play, which creates moments that are spatially and emotionally enjoyable.

The story deals with various themes, but the one that resonates most is the need to adapt.  Being uncompromising in your work is of course admirable, but ultimately, everyone’s got to eat.  When you’re working in a business which prizes beauty and finding the next best thing, you either bow out gracefully or look for a way to reinvent yourself.  For Gray Matters, this is the takeaway that’s most memorable.