The La Jolla Playhouse world premiere production of “At the Old Place” begins and ends – literally, at the old place; an appropriate description for a place called home. Written by Rachel Bonds and directed by the Playhouse associate artistic director Jaime Castañeda, the 90-minute production tantalizes the audience into self-reflection. The characters, raw and brash, represent the tattered and torn pieces of life. Pieces we all have lived. Featuring four characters – Angie, played by Heidi Armbruster; Jolene, played by Brenna Coats; Harrison played by Benim Foster; and Will played by Marcel Spears – the one-set play is set affront an older home in an urban neighborhood that lacks fanfare. A tattered, brown lawn with a noisy graveled driveway add the perfect ambiance to a tête-à-tête that’s delightfully meaningless, semi-nostalgic, brutally honest and possibly life-changing. “At the Old Place” reveals “The Road Not Taken” – complete with its Robert Frost rendition – through the perspective of youth and middle age. Angie, a college professor of poetry in her forties, presently on sabbatical, returns to her childhood home following the death of her estranged mother. Touting a failing marriage and an extra-marital affair, she confronts Jolene and Will, twenty-something friends that often frequent the house’s front yard as a sanctuary to relax, retreat and party. The gang of three quickly bond – to forget about life for a while – but fall into discussing nothing but life’s inequities, inadequacies and hopeful moments. Conversations laced with booze bring out the truth, lies and dares. Drinking games elicit conversation not fit for print. The dialogue is at times not for sensitive ears. Academia – complete with lines of poetry from Robert Frost and Frank O’Hara – mingle between F-bombs, “likes,” “you knows’” and political jabs. The characters, although acerbic, are likable. Human to the core, they share misgivings about life and love. Age serves as a prerequisite for choosing the road less-travelled or the path well-worn. The audience dares to question, when do we ever really know what we’re really all about? The acting is incredible. Really. Everyone knows an Angie, a Jolene, a Will and a Harrison. We might even have a small piece of each within our own DNA. Weaving humor and melancholy, “At the Old Place” is as strikingly poignant as it is childish. But childish is good, for it cracks open Pandora’s box of opportunity, leading us to new and possibly more promising avenues that lead to a brighter future. “Rachel Bonds is an actor’s playwright; she creates complex characters with hidden depths and nuances, tailor made for actors to inhabit and explore,” noted Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley in a statement.
The creative team includes Lauren Helpern as scenic designer; David Israel Reynoso as costume designer; Lap Chi Chi as lighting designer; Melanie Chen as sound designer; Gabriel Greene as dramaturg and Katrina Herrmann as stage manager.
