Yard Sale Signs
Don’t let playwright Jennie Webb’s title fool you—this is not a comedy that take place at a yard sale, but an off the rack consignment store where the women are trying on more than clothes. Having outgrown their roles, or attempting to get comfortable in new ones, six strangers bolster each other and discover that life is not a one-size fits all. Each one hits on the motherload of their problems, literally, mothers albeit absent, figure largely in this play.
Absurdist in terms of character and some very funny sight gags, the seriousness in tone and relationships contradicts, with perhaps too much levity, the unusually inventive moments. Sliding in and out of the surreal, the foundation from which most of the comedy is based loses traction. It is difficult to discern exactly what this play is: an absurdist dramedy or a surrealist satire. The combination of these elements competes for the audience’s attention and distracts from the overall off-kilter effect.
The characters relate to one another as they don on new duds in a communal dressing room thoughtfully detailed by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz. Plunging through the racks of clothes generously supplied by Eva Franco Design, the women bond, revealing their personal problems with motherhood, middle age and their shifting roles as they search for a new look that redefines them. Clothes may not make the man, but it sure can make up for one. But this feminist gathering place comes with its own harem eunuch of sorts, a fabulously droll fashion consultant (Jaxon Duff Gwillim) whose sharp eye and rapier wit puts the women at ease as he caters to their whims and praises their attributes.
Gal pals Inger Tudor as The Focused Woman and Jennifer Taub as the Scattered Woman wrestle with their “mother” issues while an underappreciated and haggard stepmom (Ann Bronston—award-winning short story writer) struggles to find school clothes for her teenage stepdaughter (Corryn Cummins). Enter the absurd in Hollace Starr’s mother of three whose domestic devotions has left her a literal talking head. In all of this wacky sisterhood, The Only Man acts as mediator whenever the claws come out. Webb does make a point to show how everyone is falling apart in their own personal way, but Starr’s is the most entertaining.
The title of the play takes its cue from a strange fascination Focused Woman has in old yard sale signs left up long after the sale has passed. These signs, kept in Scattered Woman’s Mary Poppins-like enormous carpetbag along with an endless array of impossibilities among them a ladder and a roomful of boxes, are symbolic of self-absorption and isolation. “We’re in a country where people can’t see past their own yard sales.” A strange point made in the otherwise feminist/filial piece; supporting my claim that there are actually two plays here instead of one.
Elina de Santos smartly exaggerates the fantastical characters and elements with excellent staging that keeps the audience guessing. Unfortunately, the less humorous scenes are much more static and often times, stilted.
This is a terrific show for women to see together. It tickles the funny bone and touches on the vulnerable world of women surrounded by those awful dressing room mirrors. It’s also a great opportunity to see a veritable sample sale of LA designer, Eva Franco’s very chic fashions.
Be advised that these clothes will be available for purchase after the run of the show (excepting the cast costumes). All proceeds go to the theatre. Visit Franco’s website for more info or see the show and leave your contact info on the Rogue Machine mailing list.
“Yard Sale Signs”
Runs through Nov 14
Thurs & Sat at 8pm
Sundays at 3pm
No show on 10/28
Rogue Machine
Theatre Theater
5041 Pico Blvd.
LA, CA 90019
PH: 323-960-4424
www.roguemachinetheatre.com
Eva Franco Designs
www.EvaFranco.com