Theater Review: Completeness

Scientific, Emotional Components of Relationships Crash in a Nice All-in-One Bundle
By Lauren Yarger
A computer geek and a molecular biologist partner on an algorithm and suddenly romance is in bloom, along with yeast populations in a petri dish in Itamra Moses' new play Completeness in its new York premiere at Playwrights Horizons.

Molly (Aubrey Dollar) talks (in very technical and complex language) about mapping DNA through studying bait and prey and Elliot (Karl Miller) shares his passion for one day solving the mathematically unsolvable "salesman problem," involving probabilities for the routes of a traveling salesman. Their circuits meld, thanks to the playwright's skill at creating likable, real characters and putting them into a situation filled with humor and human emotion.

Neither has a good track record with relationships. Molly's ex and the head of her department at the university, Don (Brian Avers), doesn't understand why she suddenly won't take his calls and when he realizes he's been replaced in her affections by Elliott, he might just pull the funding for her research. Meanwhile, Elliott just got out of a serious relationship with Lauren (Meredith Forlenza) and is sure he probably will have a hard time committing to Molly too.

The two find themselves reverting to past behaviors: she uses bait and prey to mask hurt, then is hurt to find that she can't wipe the slate clean of anything to mask; he fails, then fails to understand why he fails in a tribute to the unsolvable salesman problem. All of that is an allegory for the algorithm they write together. The system overloads as they search for a solution and there is a crash, very nicely staged (David Zinn; scenic and costume design; Russell H. Champa; Rocco DiSanti, projection and video design; Bray Poor, original music and sound).

Pam MacKinnon deftly directs and helps  Forlenza and Avers make stunning transformations into other characters who interact with the couple. Moses shows skill at using dialogue that is distinctive for each character and wraps up a neat all-in-one package of interesting topic, real characters and multi-layered plot.

The limited edition of this New York premiere runs Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, (416 West 42nd St., through Sunday, Sept. 25.  For subscription and ticket information to all Playwrights Horizons productions, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, Noon to 8 pm daily, or purchase online at www.playwrighthorizons.orgs.