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For a twenty-seven-year-old playwright with a short string of hits (and a couple of misses), Anthony M. Laura has done a bang-up job with the complex and surprisingly-mature Silence, at Theater for the New City. As a director...well, he's done not quite a bang-up job, but a more-than-serviceable one (with assistance from Katherine Booze-Mooney), and he's aided by a cast that manages to knock it out of the park for the most part; this is hardly simplistic material, and just as strenuous for an audience to absorb as for those on stage to embody. The action begins even as the audience wanders into the theater, with the character of Cassandra on stage in her bedroom, designed beautifully by Sarah Harris, who did an equally stunning job with the downstairs living room set.
After the houselights come down, we quickly learn that this very young twentysomething is afflicted with what could best be described as hysterical muteness; the death of her mother has left her unable to communicate verbally. This is complicated by father Gary, utterly pulled to pieces by Cassandra's illness and desperate attempts to make his new love relationship with young Anne a success, as well as Cassie's neglected slightly-younger sister Stephanie, involved in a love relationship of her own with Tim, who had, in turn, previously been involved with Cassandra. Tangling matters further is the presence of Layla, an ominous hallucination borne out of the recesses of Cassandra's fragile psyche. Within the course of ninety minutes, this spectacular rollercoaster of a scenario takes us through each and every person's vulnerabilities and neuroses as crafted deftly by Laura, and by the end, it's impossible not to feel deeply for each of the characters, even as their lives begin to unravel as a solid unit and change irreparably.
As far as casting, it is the ladies of the company who fare most gorgeously. Skylar Saltz is so wondrous in her portrayal of Cassandra that it's not impossible to envision her future as a Martha Plimpton for the new generation. And Sinem Gulturk is equally resplendent as Layla; so brilliantly does she display every emotion to the hilt. But it is the wistfully-beautiful Katie Donovan who comes close to walking off with the show while displaying Anne's fervor in wanting to be all things to all people, whether potential stepmother, big sister, party planner or all-around saint. However, the performance of the night belongs to Emily Tarpey as Stephanie; she is at once so earthy and at the same time so other-worldly in her embodiment of the role, that one is wholeheartedly transported from the moment of her first entrance at the top of the show. Would that the two gentlemen of the ensemble displayed quite the same level of talent; alas, young Jarrod Luke plays Tim with the obvious lack of grace that comes from being recently sprung from theatre school, although his raw potential is clearly tremendous. The cast's weakest link appears to be Vince Bandille as Gary; though a commanding presence, his oft-wooden delivery of Laura's dialogue fails to evoke the sympathy one should, by all means, have for the character.
Is Silence a show worth seeing twice? The answer is a qualified maybe. Is Silence a show worth recommending? The answer is an unequivocal yes. By all means, get thyself to Theater for the New City to experience it, even with the few little kinks that could be worked out with a longer run. This could well be the start of something very, very big for Anthony M. Laura et al.
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