Great Falls at 35below

Edwin Arnaudin: 35below appears to be specializing in two-handers for the 2020 side of its current season. Back in January, we got the heavy, suspenseful Brilliant Traces, and now comes Great Falls, written by Tony-nominated and Pulitzer-nominated playwright Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods). Is this a trend you hope continues at the black box theater?

Bruce Steele: Why not? The many talents within Asheville’s theater community have clearly identified the space as an opportune showcase for impressive acting chops, and these two-person dramas — like the stunning Red in 2017, from Mockingbird Theatre Productions, as is Great Falls — are often rich character studies with lots of dynamic verbal dueling and poignant monologues. In this case, we meet a middle-aged gentleman called only (and inexplicably) Monkey Man (John Hall) on a road trip of dubious legitimacy with his former step-daughter, who dubs herself Bitch (Audrey Wells). For 90 minutes without intermission, the two cycle through a number of power flips, heated emotions, and disturbing confessions.

Edwin: Indeed, but for me, it’s a case of the acting being exceptionally strong despite the mediocre material. Wells and Hall are mesmerizing (especially in such close quarters with the audience) and make the most of their many lines. They also ably pull double duty as stagehands, moving around the limited props and multi-purpose wooden boxes.

Bruce: I do wish someone other than the actors had been doing the set changes, and that some could have been more quickly accomplished — the dragging of chairs and stacking of boxes often dispelled the dramatic tensions the actors and director Chandra Calentine had worked so hard to build from Blessing’s sometimes oblique script.

Edwin: I found myself more enduring the writing than engaging with it.

Bruce: Blessing is clearly working through something, but I couldn’t quite discern his agenda. The characters have some detailed traumas and transgressions to share, but at the same time they’re largely shorn of the biographical specificity that usually buoys two-person plays. Since they also don’t have actual names, this fuzziness was clearly a choice on Blessing’s part, but not a fully successful one. Were you feeling that?

Edwin: Definitely. Blessing’s coming-of-age themes and meditations on the unusual relationships between ex-step-parents and -step-children have plenty of potential, but they need a heightened scenario and/or more background and character development to make their intended impacts. Imagine if it really was a kidnapping (as Bitch only jokes and Monkey Many quickly dispels)? Or if we knew what motivations drove each character and got the unconventional road trip underway? An explanation is sort of provided about an hour in, but feels a bit too sudden — and arrives too late to fully reframe the preceding action.

Bruce: You expect belated revelations in this kind of play, but they should illuminate the shadows sketched in previously, and in Great Falls a lot of the big reveals seem to come from nowhere — except perhaps from the unknowable catalog of sexual mores and misdeeds that Blessing wanted to include. But I don’t want our readers to think the play is a dud. It’s got some powerful moments and some smart writing.

Edwin: And beyond providing a vessel to inspire great work from the cast, Blessing also excels at stoking theatergoers’ imaginations. Practically nothing is shown, so highway scenes on the trip west are elevated by Monkey Man’s descriptions of the heavenly scenery — much like the duo’s stop off at Yellowstone National Park and visit to a natural history museum. With these assets and the potential for audiences to connect with them, I understand why the Mockingbird team could see great potential for it on the 35below stage, but these details are mere highlights amidst a greater number of problematic spots.

Bruce: Problematic, yes, but also provocative — the Asheville Community Theatre greeter offers trigger warnings to arriving patrons. Yet even if Great Falls is not the show that most moves us in 2020, it may turn out to be one of the top demonstrations of sustained acting intensity. I’m a bit flummoxed at what it all adds up to, but I look forward to our further offline discussion, particularly with women who’ve seen the play, to help us all break it down and make sense of it. I wouldn’t have us do that here for fear of spoiling the experience for those who don’t know the show, but I think everyone who goes will feel similarly. Whatever your reaction or judgment of the writing, there’s much to debate and discuss, which is a plus for any theater experience.

Great Falls runs through March 22 in 35below at Asheville Community Theatre. For details and tickets, visit ashevilletheatre.org.

(Photo by Studio Misha Photography)