Tynan's Anger

Whatever the flaws of Complete, a new play by Andrea Kuchlewska now playing as part of the FringeNYC Encore series, its intelligence cannot be questioned. Complete has a unique conceptual framework that displays the delicate balance between intellect, emotion, genuine religious experience and our inherent suspicion of those who claim to have all the answers. The religious implications of the American self-help guru, a trend which started in the '70s and has only become more widespread, have not to my knowledge been given this kind of treatment in a play. Certainly, none have applied the self-help guru to the graduate student experience while not directly invoking the names Osho or Timothy Leary.

Wrapping its framework around 4 players, Complete features two linguistics graduate students Eve and Micah (Lucy Owen and Zac Jaffe) who bond over their closeted affinity for prescriptive grammar. Also featured are Jack (Dylan Price), flexing through the roles of two competing, self-help groups as well the professors who mock Eve and Micah's meandering, and Evie (Sophia Nicole Rodyakin), and Abigail Breslin-like combination of the play's inner child and Greek chorus. Evie. Complete's stylistic touches, including non-linear scenes, audience engagement, and an eerie prologue, are not particularly new, and in some cases take away from the play's overall strength. Certainly the lackadaisical direction by Birgitta Victorson didn't help. Nonetheless, it's very difficult to think of the play working any other way. The confusion of emotional and intellectual intelligence is central play's ability to remain entertaining and interesting. The occasional confusions were a smart price to pay for the right general tone.

At the center of the play are Eve and Micah, the two characters that really drive this play to another level. A not-necessarily romantic relationship is sparked by a discovered their mutual disgust for "bad grammar," despite linguistics' devotion to being purely descriptive in regards to language usage. How Eve and Micah view their roles in graduate school, however, couldn't be more different. While Eve's passion for language is inalienably tied to her thirst for knowledge and emotional health, Micah is much more concerned with his status in the field and not embarrassing himself. What's particularly striking about Complete is its complicated and unconventional take on the effect these two motivations have. Eve is more willing to put herself out there in her devotion to the subject matter, and her obsession with details ultimately sours her relationship with Micah. Micah, on the other hand, feels a compulsion to hide his intelligence out of fear of public speaking and scorn. His insecurity becomes so paralyzing that he needs to turn to a guru to fill an emotional void, much to the disgust of Eve, who has a bad history with gurus.

The differences between the "The Training" and "The Program," the two competing, generic self-help groups are never fully explored. Instead, Kuchlewska focuses on the indistinguishable emotional tactics used by each group, involving repeated catchphrases, deceptive jokes and colloquialisms, and the occasional screaming and strong-arming. Kuchlewska doesn't focus on the behaviors of the converted; There's no Heaven's Gate or Jonestown parallels here. Instead, she focuses on the margins of the conversion process, making it more understandable, if not relatable.

Complete contains a full gamut of attitudes towards cult-like behavior and academic pursuit, without applying any particular value set to them. No doubt audiences will be willing to add their own beliefs to Complete. Yet, Kuchlewska has audience biases fully covered with her smorgasbord approach. All this could have easily resulted in a very messy, unwieldy production. In fact, Kuchlewska errs on the side of intelligence at the expense of natural dialogue, and there are at least two scenes that would be best cut out. But by providing pockets of pathos and humor in the script, aided by the veiled intensity of Owen and Jaffe, Kuchlewska turns Complete into a smart play that intimately grasps theater's ability to become an intellectual platform, without becoming a soapbox.

Labels: 2009-2010, Andrea Kuchlewska, complete (play), Lucy Owen, new york, nyc fringe festival, theater review, Zac Jaffe