Acorn

Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Life & Arts

Media Credit: Amber LaCasse Elizabeth Tinnon ('09), Alec MacPherson ('12), Jaime Lamchick ('11) and Richard Drake ('12) star as a dysfunctional family in a doomed town in 'The Root of Chaos.'

Anti-depressants should have been given out along with the tickets at Dorothy Young Center's box office in preparation for the latest Drew University Dramatic Society presentation, "The Root of Chaos," by Douglas Soderberg, and "Smoke Jumping," by Meg Higgins. Though the acting talent and delicate stage craft synonymous with DUDS productions is on strong display for both one-acts, the dark subject matters could be difficult for audience members to stomach.



The first play, "The Root of Chaos," is set in Centralia, Pa., a town which is slowly being enveloped from below by fire. Kathryn Funkhouser ('11) designed a kitchen that has seen better days, with unleveled floors to prove it. Most of the action takes place around a small table in the center of the kitchen. The Cernikowski family is peculiar and dysfunctional. The mother, Wilma (Elizabeth Tinnon ['09]), is frustrated with keeping house, keeping her children in line and measuring their sinking house.



The children, Doublemint, 13 (Jaime Lamchick ['11]) and Skeeter, 9, (Richard Drake ['12]) are memorable. Drake, with his nervous energy, is reminiscent of Michael McDonald's Stuart, from "MadTV." Family patriarch Joe (Alec MacPherson ['12]) is the last of the family introduced to the audience. He is a father and husband in the vein of Ward Cleaver from "Leave it to Beaver"-with a sinister twist.



Lamchick and Drake give the best lines of the evening. Doublemint asks her mother, "Am I really a bastard?" to which Wilma answers, "Yes, that's why your father and I got married." Once Joe comes home, Wilma, Doublemint and Skeeter surround him, jumping up and down. The most striking lines exchanged were Skeeter's comment on his day: "It looks like I got raped," to which Joe replies, "So, everything was great?"



On top of the family's dysfunction, it has to worry about surviving. Lamchick and Drake make the most lasting impression with their back-and-forth zingers. Drake is especially memorable for his wonderful work as a physical comedian. MacPherson has a tough role because his character is the least-developed and is the least-likeable, but he holds his own. Tinnon is good as a stressed mother and wife, and makes the most of her limited time on stage.

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