Springs Ensemble Theatre scores with production of Rachel Axler’s dark comedy

Get ready to laugh about things that aren’t funny at Smudge now playing at the Springs Ensemble Theatre through August 18. This dark comedy dives into the complexities of parenthood, disabilities, and societal expectations when Nick (Nickolas Ruíz) and Colby (Kate Hertz) welcome a severely deformed child with no limbs, a tail and one emerald, green eye. Named “Smudge,” her moniker reduces her life to a smear or blur in her mother’s eye.

Where can there possibly be comedy in such a tragedy? Well, like me, you will be surprised. A two-time Emmy award winner, playwright Rachel Axler weaves a tapestry of grotesque bewilderment, gripping humanity and clueless irreverence into her three characters. These unique ingredients bake a head-scratching play that almost begs a focus group discussion.

Hertz inhabits her role of Colby with credible emotion and careful pacing that goes from broken to bolstered. A local staple on areas stages, Hertz also co-produced Smudge and will make her directorial debut at SET later this year.

Returning to the stage after more than a decade, Ruíz doesn’t miss a beat as Nicholas, the doting father who caretakes not only his daughter but his wife. Strong and steadfast at home, he is meek in the wake of his brother, Pete, played to perfection by SET newcomer Creston Cooper. Pete is a bull in the China shop as Nick’s boisterous brother who is kept in the dark about baby Smudge, making his comic banter somewhat forgivable.

Creston Cooper (left) with Nicolas Ruíz in ‘Smudge’

A special child

Life is not meeting expectations for this young couple who view their daughter very differently. Where Colby sees a monster, Nick forges a bond to feign normalcy. As Colby struggles with profound postpartum depression, Nick tries to embrace the challenge of raising an atypical child. Both actors pull off this build individually and in tandem. Their relatable discourse blurs the fact that they are “acting” as it is that plausible.

While the audience never sees Smudge, the baby is ever present in her carriage of tangled tubes, a haunting screen of vitals and the incessant beeping of a heart monitor. The set is simple, minimalistic with an ominous feel to its lighting design that reflects each character’s emotions.

Just as sadness consumes the couple, a quick scene shift has Nick and Pete in their shared office where the bloviating big brother is badgering Nick for pictures of the new baby. He is puzzled at Nick’s reclusive posture and the duo are well-synced. Pete comically speculates on Nick’s secrecy which ushers in the strange and weird levity that is the undercurrent of Smudge.

Sweaty, disheveled, and pacing, Cooper is that nosy irritating relative who just won’t let up. While his words are too many and he occasionally loses them, it fits as Pete is that person we all know who seeks to fill all the dead air even with nothingness.

Act One closes as Colby finds a nugget of connection with Smudge, Nicholas begins to navigate his new normal and Pete learns the secret — but the path forward is not what the audience expects.

Our not seeing the baby serves to underscore the sad but societal norms around the unseen, those who do not fit the mold. In many ways SET does not walk the line of other performance venues: Its stated mission is “to explore problems and examine choices central to the human condition.” You will be uncomfortable, bothered but your thoughts provoked. Smudge is a heavy lift and SET gets the gold.

Kate Hertz and Nickolas Ruíz as Colby and Nick in ‘Smudge’