New comedy about a new play by 10(23) Productions opens at Buntport Theater

The Critic is the first full-length play from new theatre company 10(23) Productions. The show opened Sept. 12 at Denver’s Buntport Theatre, and afterwards OnStage Colorado Editor Alex Miller and collaborator Toni Tresca met at nearby Town Hall Collective to chat about the show. Our conversation is edited for length and clarity and to make us sound smarter.

Alex Miller: So we’re here at the Town Hall Collaborative on Santa Fe just about a half-hour before they close and we’re literally the only two customers in here. We just came out of opening night for The Critic, so let’s talk about what we saw.

Toni Tresca: It’s interesting to be two critics critiquing The Critic.

Alex: Yep, pretty meta, as was the play within a play itself.

Toni: The whole thing is about a small theatre company working on a new play and getting all wound up when they hear a critic is coming to opening night. But that conceit kind of fades into the background at quite a few points in the play.

Alex: The plot is an interesting idea, although the notion that any one critic is going to make or break a play is a bit outdated unless you’re talking about a critic from the New York Times or something. But it’s a fun premise.

Toni: Yeah, nowadays when like the local arts writers show up, it’s a lot more like “My god, thank you for your service. There’s nobody else who’s doing this.” But as you said, not many critics actually have that power to sink or swim shows anymore, but as critics we can definitely use our platforms to give more attention to things.

Alex: Turning to the production itself, you know, it was a little clunky. The pacing was often sluggish, but as a comedy it had some funny moments. And it had a decent cast, for the most part. There isn’t anyone playing the critic — we never see them, we don’t know who they are or what they like or think, really.

Toni: Except for they like Cats. It’s like the only positive review this critic has ever given.

Alex: The plot here is essentially about a temperamental playwright, a dysfunctional cast and a director eager to improve on her last disastrous production. When they learn a critic is coming, the fur begins to fly as the cast and director try to rewrite the script to hopefully appeal to this critic. So, what was your initial take?

Toni: I would say it was funny in parts, with some good lines. Situationally, it’s largely the same beat being repeated. Much of the humor stems from the conceit that the director keeps coming up with very cliché changes, like doing it in a very postmodern fashion or having everyone on the ground doing groundwork. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the stakes to be raised, but it never really happened.

Jack Janzen plays the haughty actor George in ‘The Critic’

Alex: Yes, the first act ends without that tension, that mic drop that makes you eager to come back after intermission. But unfortunately, the second act didn’t really deliver. It started with this ridiculous bit where the characters wouldn’t talk to each other, so they had the stage manager relaying messages.

Toni: It’s a mildly funny bit of telephone that doesn’t age well. It’s a good encapsulation of the biggest problem: It just keeps mining the same beat. In theatre, you don’t want to overuse a comedic bit. I feel this play kept mining the same material repeatedly.

Alex: I did think there were quite a bit of clever lines about doing theatre itself, which isn’t surprising coming from a playwright who’s also an active actor and producer.

Toni: There were some good lines about how actors have to make the most of the script they’re given, calling them the real heroes. There were also some funny throwaway jokes in the second act about how designers are under appreciated.

Alex: And another where one of the actors wonders aloud who does all the sound and lights and stuff. And the director hastily introduces them and turns back to the actors.

Toni: What about the individual performances?

Alex: Stephani Dees as the director character, did a nice job. She was convincingly flustered and always seemed to come from a place of truth. Jack Janzen, who played the master thespian, the stuck-up character, was pretty funny too. He really leaned into the cliché of the self-important actor.

Toni: Yes, he was pretty fun and made the most of a lot of moments. And then there was Noah, the “Community Theater Kid” character, played by Daevon Robinson. I’ve seen him before in In the Heights at Vintage Theater. He did a nice job as the guy in the middle of the warring parties. The third main character was Caroline, played by Amalia Adiv. She’s apparently from New York and has performed at the Aurora Fox and Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

Alex: Yes, I thought she was quite funny, although her character wasn’t as clearly defined as the others. She was the earnest actor trying to do a good job. Bernardo Padilla, who played the playwright, looked a little unsteady. It almost looked like his first time on stage.

Toni: He was definitely the weakest in terms of line memorization, that’s for sure. There were quite a few stops and starts with him where you could tell he was trying to remember where the thing was actually going. So that’s always noticeable for sure, particularly as opposed to, like you said, the other cast members who were quite solid.

Alex: Yes, and the other character was the stage manager, Sam, played by Adrian Hart. You could tell he’s had some experience with farce and had some fun lines to work with.

(L-R) Daevon Robinson, Jack Janzen, Amalia Adiv and Stephanie Dees in ‘The Critic’

Toni: Although I’m not sure the running gag with the elephant stuffie was all that successful.

Alex: One running gag that did work well was the 15-minute breaks that kept coming up at key times, due to Equity rules. It was a clever device to defuse some of the contentious situations or to kneecap the director just when she seemed to be making progress.

Toni: So, what’s your overall take?

Alex: I don’t think this play was quite ready for prime time. The playwright mentioned he wrote it in two weeks and rehearsed it in three, and it shows. It feels like an early draft with potential but needing more work. I really do think there’s a lot of solid material here that would benefit from a more full-fledged development process like many new-play programs provide.

Toni: I agree. There are interesting ideas here, but it could benefit from a revision. Perhaps fleshing out the world more, maybe including some producing partners or board members to raise the stakes.

Alex: Absolutely. They could have used the playwright character more sparingly for greater impact or introduced other elements like a journalist sitting in on a rehearsal gone wrong.

Toni: There are many missed opportunities to explore the theater community beyond just throwaway lines. The play within the play, which was called Utilities Not Included, could have been fleshed out more too. We know it’s about three roommates and is supposedly a critique of modern capitalism, but we don’t see much of that.

Alex: And the ending was quite abrupt. We see the end of Utilities Not Included and that curtain call and hear applause so maybe it went OK, but that’s it.

Toni: I expected another scene after the fake curtain call, maybe showing the characters reacting to the critic’s review, but it just ended.

Alex: To wrap up, who do you think should see The Critic?

Toni: I think it’s primarily for active theater people who are interested in supporting other theater artists at an early stage of development. It’s a lot of inside baseball at the moment.

Alex: Agreed.

Toni: But if you want to support new work and see something very meta-theatrical, The Critic has its moments. Although it’s no Noises Off or Moon Over Buffalo yet, it’s an interesting early effort in the genre of play-within-a-play comedy.