Quick Hit Theater Review: Horsedreams

Michael Laurence, Roxanna Hope, and Matthew Schechter  Photo: Sandra Coudert.

Horsedreams
By Dael Orlandersmith
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

Summary:
Against a metaphoric cracked backdrop (Takeshi Kata, set design), drug use takes its toll on one family in an intensely gripping, unrelentingly engaging world premiere of Horsedreams, a play by Dael Orlandersmith, who also plays the role of Mira, a housekeeper who tries to help young Luka (Matthew Schechter), caught in the middle of his parents' addictions.

Loman (Michael Laurence) and Desiree (Roxanna Hope) seem like any other young couple. They're successful, enjoy the club/party scene and are physically attracted. They get married and have a baby and move out of the city to Westchester, but Desiree soon finds playing housewife and mother unfulfilling. She also starts to doubt whether she loves Loman and turns to drugs to feel more in control. Sensing his wife's unhappiness, Loman starts taking her back to the clubs, but the once-a-week stimulation and snorting of coke lines isn't enough and Desiree starts injecting a mix of cocaine and heroin with devestating results.

In the wake of his wife's overdose, Loman swears off coke and hires Mira to look after Luka who craves some attention from his father who consoles himself with alcohol. When Loman succumbs to the temptation of escape "just this once" and "one last time" through the same cooked narcotic combination that took his wife, Mira wonders whether she should intervene and have Luka removed from the home, especially when Loman starts taking the boy with him to drug-buying trips to 125th and Lexington Avenue.

Highlights:
An uncompromising look at the downward spiral drugs bring and their effects on addicts and those who love them. Orlandersmith has a gift for storytelling and for realistic characters. I particularly liked the development of Loman's thoughts that he is somehow above having a drug problem because he is rich and white. The play answers a lot of questions about why people turn to drugs and has a great message about how our kids are more influenced by what we do than by what we say. Should be required curriculum for middle schoolers (and their parents).

Edelstein's direction is excellent, as are lighting and sound ((Marcus Doshi; Ryan Rumery).

Lowlights:
The theater was unbearably warm the night I attended and the use of a strong herbal cigarette made it more uncomfortable for the intermissionless, 85-minute presentation.

Information:
Hosrsedreams runs through Dec. 11 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, NYC– off 7th Avenue South – between West 11th & Perry streets. Performances are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets are $55 and are available at 212-279-4200 or at www.ticketcentral.com.

Christians might also like to know:
--God's name taken in vain
--Drug usage
--Language
--Sexual activity