Dying words

Wheat Ridge Theatre explores 3 stories of death in ‘The Shadow Box’

The stories of three people dying of cancer may sounds like a rather depressing premise for a play, but …

No, wait, it is depressing. On the other hand, having any kind of a conversation about death in a country that hates having conversations about death, well, that can make for some interesting drama.

In Michael Cristofer’s 1977 play The Shadow Box — which won a Pulitzer and a Tony for Best Play that same year — the main characters are terminal patients living in three separate cottages on the grounds of a hospital. As part of their end-of-life care, they’ve agreed to be interviewed by a psychiatrist in their final days and also have family members visit them.

It’s a bit of an odd setup, but it does afford the ability to have the three stories play out simultaneously. In the Wheat Ridge Theatre Company production, director Selena A. Naumoff has limited space to work with but manages to carve out three distinct areas within the confines of the newly minted “Wheat Ridge Center for Music and Arts” which is located within the Wheat Ridge United Methodist Church.

In Cottage 1, there’s Joe (Michael Bateman), whose wife and son show up from New Jersey with a whole lotta baggage — both literal and emotional. Maggie (Elicia Hesselgrave) has a ham, a loaf of bread and truckload of denial and anxiety about this whole dad’s-dying thing. She has, in fact, not been able to tell their teenage son Steve (Stellan Merrel) what’s going on, and the poor kid shows up with a guitar thinking he’s at family camp or something.

In Cottage 2 we have a gay man, Brian (Rob Payo), whose partner Mark (James D. Thompson) is there helping when along comes Brian’s ex-wife Beverly (Kiso Kyle) — a batty, oversexed goofball who turns out to be the life of this not-so-fun party. Payo really nails this part with a bittersweet portrayal that shows both Brian’s fun-loving side and his deep-seated anxiety not just about death but about his current and former partners.

Cottage 2: Kiso Kyle, Rob Payo and James D. Thompson

And in Cottage 3 there’s the saddest of the sad trio: former farm-owner Felicity (Debra Gallegos) and her long-suffering daughter Agnes (Cheryl Sarkaria). Of the three, Felicity is closest to death’s door, and as the fire leaves her, it transfers to Agnes as she’s grilled by the psychiatrist (Jim Hayes), who we only hear him over a PA system of some sort. This story struck me as the most interesting since Agnes, after being pressed by the psychiatrist, ultimately spills the complicated story involving her black-sheep sister. Sarkaria is excellent as a woman who’s bound to her dying mother and tormented by the fact that it’s her absent sister who seems to be her only focus.

As the playwright has stripped away any hope that the three will live much longer, the action is focused on how they and their family members are coping with it which is, in a word, poorly. Mild-mannered Joe may be the most grounded in reality, but Maggie is off the rails. She won’t even come in the cottage — seemingly believing that to do so would be to admit to the whole situation. Hesselgrave’s performance outstripping Joe as the object of sympathy is quite good, and it mines a part of the psyche where one person’s insecurities can take all of the oxygen out of the room.

Brian effects a chipper acceptance, but it’s a façade somewhat made possible by Beverly’s bluster. Joe is probably the closest to acceptance, but his wife’s struggles make it hard for him to proceed in peace.

Cottage 3: Debra Gallegos and Cheryl Sarkaria

This is a strong cast that does a nice job with the material. They’re hampered somewhat by a problematic venue that’s hot, cramped and somehow rather sound absorbing. I could barely hear Bateman at times, and Merrel’s lines were mostly lost as well. I know Wheat Ridge Theatre is a young company still casting about for a more permanent venue, but this one likely isn’t it.

Despite all that, if you can get past the bummer-factor of The Shadow Box, it’s an interesting study of how different people confront death. And while many stories of this type focus on the dying, this play takes a good look at how the loved ones around them manage their feelings as the end draws near. It’s a powerful play presented with a lot of love by this cast and crew, and it’s great to see Wheat Ridge Theatre Company filling the gap in live theatre in this part of town.