Nippertown - Music, Arts and Culture News for the Albany Area - Celebrating Music, Arts, and Culture in the Capital Region

Chester Theatre Company is presenting the World Premiere of a play it commissioned “To the Moon and Back” by Darcy Parker Bruce and it is curious and enlightening at the same time. The two sides of this play might reflect the two sides of the moon and be the miracle the lead character is looking for.

Ace played by the indispensable, luminous Tara Franklin opens the play in a direct address monologue introducing us to the moon and her quest to find a miracle so “I know what home feels like.” There is a lot of whimsical talk about moon pies, moon pop, and moon dinner. After a meteor shower, she asks with care if we have brought an umbrella.

Soon, we’re introduced to Major (Raye Birk) who plants himself in a lawn chair watching game shows and insisting that Ace calls him Dad. Ace is very solicitous towards Major but resists his invitations to join him at the game show where he will be a contestant. Major is very excited about the grand prize of a family with a Victorian house and a dog…or is it a cat? Ace is wary of his enthusiasm but still waits on him although she does need to remind him that there is no beer on the moon.

The third character, RJ, is played by Chester-favorite Pauli Pontrelli and they are a co-worker of Ace’s at Luna Burger and fellow traveler over the moon’s surface, searching for the miracle and avoiding the door which occasionally rumbles to threatening life.

The set by Travis George has the Earth on the upstage wall as if viewed from the moon’s distance. “So small I could put it in my pocket. There is a bluish-white uneven floor on the stage surface but this moon also has structural elements, two windows and the door. RJ and Ace can travel around the moon, moving in and out of the wings. There are hanging globe lights (lighting design by Lara Dubin) that give an interstellar planetary life to the evening. Nathan Leigh did the sound design which is otherworldly and fun. I especially liked the game show interludes. Charles Schoonmaker did the fun, imaginative costumes.

Director Keira Naughton moves the play quickly (in a mostly straight line) to the game show Major has been so eager to get through and it turns out to be Ace’s need to confront her father about a past trauma in her life that he had committed. I loved the use of imagination in the play constructing a new reality but feel if you’re going to set a play on the moon you could go much farther than references to moon pies although it is good to know that housing is pretty affordable on the moon.

It’s also great that this imagination by Ace is used to a very pointed effect, namely her own self-treatment but everything in the play dances to Ace’s tune. I felt the only conflict was within her and the other characters weren’t given any agency or independent life.

The play is a vivid metaphor for the distancing and traumatic effect of sexual abuse on survivors but could use more in-depth interactions with the created world to deepen my interest.

Tickets: www.chestertheatre.org or 413-354-7771

Patrick White is a Capital Region actor, director and teacher who attends hundreds of plays and musicals a year throughout New York and New England. He is profoundly grateful to live in Albany which has such a thriving theater scene and lies in close proximity to some of the finest world class theater. He teaches a private acting class Saturday morning at Albany Barn and his next directing project is the Capital Region premiere of "Andy and the Orphans" by Lindsey Ferrentino, presented by Harbinger Theatre at Albany Barn 9/22-10/1.

LIVE: REO Speedwagon, Styx & Loverboy @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs, 08/17/2022

Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY to Perform “Flyin’ West” at…

Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star at Fort Salem Theater Announces Full…

Berkshire Theatre Group Offers a Ghoulish Good Time with Dracula

Lake George Dinner Theatre is a Delicious Treat for Summertime

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY to Perform…

Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star at Fort Salem…

Berkshire Theatre Group Offers a Ghoulish Good Time with…