NY Fringe Festival Review: Damon and Debra

Damon and Debra
Presented by: B Train Productions
Writer: Judy Chicurel
Director: Passion Hansome

Summary:
Playwright Judy Chicurel has hit one out of the park at her first New York theater at bat with a fascinating interaction between two commuters stranded together on a subway train.

Damon (Julito McCullum) and Debra (Michelle H. Zanagara) find themselves stranded on a NY Subway B train shortly after the September 11 attacks and enter into a forced conversation as they wait for service to resume. What starts as two people apparently on different ends of the spectrum becomes a fascinating conversation between two people who have more in common than you’d think. He’s a young African American, a distrustful product of the foster care system who works as an orderly at a hospital and who carries a notebook to write down new vocabulary words; she’s a multiple-degreed bureaucrat, who’s feisty and bold – she breaks out a bottle of wine and a joint while waiting for the train to run -- who carries purchases from a high-end-store shopping trip.

Anything you’ve ever heard or thought about racism comes out at some point, often with good humor attached. This script contains some of the most raw, honest, funny and razor-sharp dialogue I have heard in a while. After finding common ground, they end up revealing some of their inner struggles. Debra, it turns out, just found out she has breast cancer, to which she just lost her mother. Damon dreams of living in peace in a house outside of the city where no one can find him (like they always could when he was in foster care). The exchange is natural and not forced as in so many “two-strangers-meet” plots and these two characters are extremely likable, thanks to the actors.

Highlights:
• Crisp realistic dialogue

Lowlights:
• It’s unlikely a B train would have only two people in a car at 3 pm (more plausible at 3 am). It’s also unlikely that so close to the attack on the WTC, these two would be so laid back and unconcerned about why the train was stopped. They do attempt to open the doors that exit onto the platform early on, but it never occurs to them to pass between train cars to find a conductor or other passengers?

Christians might also like to know:
• Lord’s name taken in vain
• Language
• Drug usage

Fringe Tassels Awarded: 4.0
VENUE #15: The Studio at Cherry Lane
The run has ended.

--Lauren Yarger