In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Be Here Now, the character of Bari epitomizes what an academic diet heavy in post-structuralist theory with oversized portions of Barthes, Derrida and Foucault can do in wreaking havoc on one’s psyche. However, as much as Bari wants to flex her intellectual prowess in the study of nihilism, she is at a dead end, stuck in neutral in trying to finish her dissertation. She sees it as the path to escaping the drudgery of working at a local fulfillment center where she and her two friends package ceramic knick-knacks to be shipped to customers.
In the Utah premiere production by PYGmalion Productions, the quartet of actors in Laufer’s chamber theater piece Be Here Now, directed by Jason Bowcutt, are absolutely delightful in reminding us that we could benefit from spending less time in shocking or scandalizing each other, and discarding thoughts suggesting the best path to satisfaction is trying to pull out the rug from underneath each other, in debates or our daily interactions and conversations.
April Fossen is splendid as Bari, reminding us how she consistently reads her character expectations to extract the meatiest epiphanies and themes from the stage script. Insufferably snarky, Bari is simultaneously alienating and feeling alienated. She is despondent that her attempts to flex her powers of intellectual provocation have stopped dead in the water, which darken her mood.
She barely can tolerate her coworkers at the fulfillment center who actually seem pleasant enough: Patty Cooper (Brenda Hattingh) and Luanne Cooper (Niki Rahimi). Patty and Luanne, her niece, are precisely the type of middle-class bourgeoisie that snobbish nihilists like to perturb. Bari assesses Mike Cooper, Patty’s cousin (Matt Sincell) pretty much the same way. After Patty arranges a date for them, Mike bolts even before they have had the chance to order dinner because he could not take another moment of Bari’s vicious snark. He seems content upcycling garbage into art and is happy to tend to his crow which has a broken wing. Bari cannot bear the fact that people like the Coopers would be satisfied enough to live in the upstate New York community of East Cooperville, some 100 miles from the Big Apple.
Bari’s restlessness is evident from the play’s opening, a well-crafted and witty bit of a yoga class for the three women (with instructor voiceover by Bijan Hosseini). Are nihilists capable of ever discovering happiness on any terms?
The question turns to why Bari’s personality has become so steeped in misanthropy. In an interview published elsewhere, Laufer explained how she decided to draw Bari’s character as suffering from Geschwind Syndrome, a characteristic behavioral condition frequently described in patients affected by temporal lobe epilepsy and in some cases how it arises because of a tumor. In the play, Bari experiences intense episodes like piercing flashes of light that spike the fervor of an exaggerated religious-like delirium.
Bari is transformed in these episodes. She speaks with an empathetic and emotional conviction and suddenly believes in the human condition stripped of her dry academic pronouncements about existentialism or that nothing in life has meaningful value. But that sense of joy and awe disappears after she undergoes surgery to have the tumor removed. As Laufer explained, “I’m fascinated by questions of identity – what is personality? Is it based on genetics? Rearing? The sum of our experiences? Are we largely responding to chemical and electrical impulses? What does it mean to be human? And then, further exploring Geschwind Syndrome’s personality descriptors – hyper religiosity, hypergraphia, atypical sexuality, intensified mental life, and non-linear thought patterns, I thought – well, there’s an interesting character!”
Fossen easily clears the bar, making Bari one of the most compelling characters this season on the PYGmalion stage. One of Utah’s most magnanimous artists on a theatrical stage, Fossen is wholly convincing in capturing Bari’s darkness and her abrupt switching to an enlightened soul who suddenly feels the grace of humanity. Hattingh and Rahimi strike the right balanced pitches in the natural comedic possibilities of their roles.
Sincell is equally impressive in shaping the dynamic counterpoint in Mike, who is still processing an epiphany arising from decisions in his life that led to enduring grief, trauma and pathos. Likewise, he is ideally matter-of-fact about having the time to create art from discarded garbage, thanks to being a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant). Each character has opportunities for impassioned monologues and Bowcutt has done a fine directing job at ensuring the quartet pay proper justice to Laufer’s marvelous writing. Kudos as well to Allen Smith for a fabulous set that is versatile in quick scene changes.
The show continues through May 17 in the Black Box Theatre at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts. For tickets and more information, see the PYGmalion Theatre Company’s website.