Everything Will Be Different

“Everything Will be Different” by Mark Schultz is a psychological study of a teenage girl and the events that precede her suicide. We know this from the evening’s onset. The victim of covert incest by her recently widowed father, Charlotte struggles to find her sanity in a world he is savagely distorts. She seeks to order her world in attempts at sexually pleasing men (failed) in order to gain physical beauty, attention, acceptance and, hopefully, love or at least a bit of comfort. Fantasy is her most effective narcotic.

Lynx founder Al Germani directed the show with taut signature ensemble. Mr. Germani, a professionally trained dancer and actor who then also pursued a career in psychotherapy is in league with Mr. Schultz’s artistic sensibilities.

Singling out a particular performance might be unfair to his dutiful ensemble company, a cast ranging in ages from the teens into their 50s. However, in the central character of Charlotte, Michelle Procopio’s portrait of her endures and manifests a hundred shades of emotion to reveal the child-woman valiantly fighting for her identify to the psychological battering by her alcoholic father and her own, now distorted, psyche.

Walter Ritter as Charlotte’s guidance counselor provides a voice of reason in the story and does so without didacticism nor condescension. Even when the actor threatened with Charlotte’s fantasized pornographic “documentation” of his “seduction” of her manages the character’s career-tumbling and jail-threatening prospect without stridency nor bombast. He, at wit’s end, negotiates a logical surrender of the items from the psychotic Charlotte. Easily a role for over kill, his Gary Smith becomes a four dimensional, well-intentioned and wise counselor pushed to the edge of life and livelihood suicide if he doesn’t stop the volatile Charlotte.

Franklin is Charlotte’s cohort and a genuinely well adjusted kid in an ever changing environment of social pressures. Kevin Koppman-Gue’s fresh-faced moment-to-moment undemanding friendship with Charlotte lays victim to her gossip of him as a supposed gay. He is not. Her gossip leads to his face battering by their group’s “alpha male,” Freddie (a likely toxic narcissist careless dropped from his mother’s womb). Joshua Manley’s bellicose presence as Freddie has a disturbing teen authenticity; you might still hear the echo of his skate board in the parking lot after he enters the scene if listening careful enough.

In semi-comatose alcoholic stupor, Harry waits for daughter Charlotte’s return under Bill Kehayias’ dutifully understated performance. Occasionally lifting himself out his armchair to accost Charlotte, Kehayias plays him so damaged and stymied with fear of his daughter’s abandonment there is no flicker of hope in his heart of darkness the light of which is woefully insufficient for himself let alone his self-mutilated daughter.

Psychological conflicts are elegantly rendered to create audience response. One can see the dynamics of Charlotte’s entangled mind. You feel helpless as she uses her only weapon, the violence of gossip, to get what she thinks will satisfy her: the opportunity to perform a sex act on a male adolescent friend. There is no predication for shock value in this play.

The design style for “Everything Will be Different” is minimal and aptly provides focus on the human figure. Germani, also the show’s designer and videographer, employs oversized video projection of characters above the performance space, which dominate Charlotte’s endeavors.

A colleague tells me Mr. Germani is a taxing director with which to work. The same is said about Des McAnuff. In San Diego, evoking potent work from actors with day jobs is daunting proposition. To cast, secure and sustain a working relationship with actors in this economic situation requires unique skills. It appears to me actors who successfully work with Mr. Germani have done so with a residue of substantial respect for him and became more seasoned artists for the wear.

High standards demand high risk when creating psycho-social contemporary drama especially in order to affect today’s nescient commercial image-drubbed audience member.

Likewise, if such audience members exit Lynx angry at the work they are pointing their finger in the wrong direction. Rather, they have the opportunity to discuss why they are upset. Therein are more substance of the theatre-going experience and the lasting pay-off of the evening’s investment.

One local female theatre critic became enraged at the piece. Great! Personally, I guess some transference was at work and unresolved issues of rejection were hit for that observer: I know some of mine were irritated.

“Everything Will be Different” encourages me in believing small San Diego theatre companies are capable of producing works of integrity. I hope the folks at ION Theatre catch this work. They may become inspired to carry over the quality and values in consummate ensemble acting to their company.

“Everything Will be Different”

Through November 23^rd , 2008

Cast: Michelle Procopio, Bill Kehayias, Walter Ritter, Kevin Koppman-Gue, Joshua Manlely; (on video) Ailicia Randolph and Joan Westmoreland; Playwright: Mark Schultz; Director: Al Germani with set, light and media design by Mr. Germani.

Phone: (619) 889-3190

Tuesday at 9pm, tix $10; Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 8 pm, tix $20 - $15

Note: no performances on Halloween (10/31) and Election Night (11/4)

Lynx Performance
Theatre Space
2653 Ariane Drive
San Diego, CA 92117-3422

lynxperformance.com