Expecting To Fly
Michael Hyman’s gay drama is being billed as a World Premiere, although it had a short life a couple of years ago under a different name. A two-hander set in a messy New York City studio apartment, we meet Jared (Justin Mortelliti) stumbling in after a night of high-booze debauchery. But just before his entrance, we see the shape of Sean (Casey Kringlen) doing what looks to be suspiciously a pole climb (as in a stripper-bar). When the two young men (in their mid-to-late 20s) begin to talk to each other, it is clear that something in this picture doesn’t ring quite true. And that’s because Sean is dead, a suicide we find out later, and Jared is reeling from guilt over his lover’s death.
As directed by Kiff Scholl, this love story gone wrong gives two gifted actors plenty of space for exploration and expansion. Watching Jared continue his descent into probable destruction, with the ghost of Sean unable to stop it, is sad and infuriating. But Hyman takes his time in exploring who these two lads are and why they fell in love.
Coming in at just about 80 minutes, Scholl does an excellent job of placing the two protagonists into their milieu: young gaymen in NYC in a post-AIDS world. Jared cannot conceive of a life without Sean and Sean can’t move on until Jared fixes himself. Fluidly directed, the actors move all around Keith Mitchell’s crowded, finely-chaotic set, with grace and ease. Their emotional conflicts are well-metered and show off their dexterities in style.
While not a great, brilliant or particularly memorable play, it is of interest in how carefully it explores survivor grief after a tumultuous love-affair. Mortilliti and Kringlen are to be congratulated on making the most of what has been handed them. Kudos all around, including for Producer Racquel Lehrman, Matt Richter’s lighting design, and Michael Donovan’s casting skills.