The Baggage Plays: 'Crazy Bag' at The Magnetic Theatre
Murphy Funkhouser-Capps unpacks her life in The Baggage Plays, two one-act, one-woman shows running in repertory at The Magnetic Theatre in the River Arts District. The first, “Crazy Bag,” covers her early life, up through a major crossroads. The second, “Carry On,” presumably continues the journey, although the Magnetic stresses that each stands alone and either can be enjoyed on its own.
In “Crazy Bag,” Funkhouser-Capps recounts her childhood as “a typical military preacher’s kid,” caught between the desire to be a good girl by her parents’ definition and to rebel and chase the sinful pleasures she’s seen on MTV, where “girls just wanted to have fun.” It’s no spoiler to reveal that rebellion wins out, sending her into a decade-long tailspin, living a sketchy, unmoored existence.
The show is presented chiefly as a comedy, with Funkhouser-Capps — a trained actress with Shakespearean credits — adopting the arch, exaggerated persona of a late-night comedian. The laughs begin early on, not the least with all the “baggage” wordplay and props: suitcases, trunks, carry-alls, a closet-size crate, and so on. Funkhouser-Capps’ evocation of her church-centric childhood — “bless her heart!” — will be familiar to many in the audience and is often quite funny. (Who doesn’t love a life-size “closet heathen” cardboard cutout?)
As the story turns dark — after dropping out of Bible college, she was “a girl on a mission without a mission” — Funkhouser-Capps tones down the sauciness for a more confessional tone. The humorous bits actually work better when she’s less winking about it, including some prop gags I won’t spoil. (One drops from the ceiling, one is brought onstage by the show’s director, Rodney Smith.)
The poignancy, however, could use some enhancement. An autobiographical monologue like this depends especially on the rich details of its anecdotes, creating that uncomfortable but enticing sense that the speaker is sharing surprising secrets and shames that most people would leave hidden. Funkhouser-Capps has a good handle on her emotions and life lessons throughout the show — “Maybe there’s more to life than doing everything you were always told not to do” — but her stories sometimes blur into generalities in the second half.
At one point, she’s living in her car for a year, and we know it’s a Plymouth Acclaim but learn almost nothing about the logistics (and presumed humiliations) of that kind of homelessness. She works at a bar (I think), about which we learn almost nothing, and faces a life-changing event brought about by choices and actions that are never addressed.
Some anecdotes are bright, quick encounters that are self-limited and perfectly told: The story of living with a failed punk band called the Twisted Corn Niblets is artful and complete in about a minute. An audience-participation trip to a club, looking for a hookup, is on target in both humor and shared discomfort. The show’s many musical cues — from ‘80s pop to gospel, from Pink Floyd to P!nk — are well chosen and nicely executed, as are some clever sound effects.
And I respect the decision to opt for a broadly comic presentation over, say, the Spalding Gray desk-and-chair approach, since the humor here leavens the hardships. But much of Funkhouser-Capps’ story seems fragmented more from a lack of dramatic sustenance than as a reflection of events, especially as characters are introduced and dropped without explanation. The play leaves an impression of considerable isolation during Funkhouser-Capps’ down years — with no ongoing friends, allies or co-workers — which may well have been the case. But if so, that’s its own subject worth addressing.
When she’s got a good story — say, the encounter with her father late in the play — she sets the scene with engrossing specificity and draws in the audience for prolonged emotional melding. “Crazy Bag” could use more of those kind of sustained, deeply felt stories. It’s clear from the show that Funkhouser-Capps’ life took her places (real and metaphorical) most people never go. Call me crazy, but I think “Crazy Bag” would benefit from a clearer account of some more of her stops along the journey.
The Baggage Plays are two stand-alone original shows in repertory at Asheville’s The Magnetic Theatre. “Crazy Bag” runs in the evening on September 5, 7, 12, and 14, with matinees on September 8 and 15, while “Carry On” runs in the evening on September 6, 8, 13, and 15 with matinees on September 7 and 14. For details and tickets, visit themagnetictheatre.com.
(Photo: Murphy Funkhouser Capps, courtesy of The Magnetic Theatre)
