THE BASICS: TEACH, a new play by Donna Hoke, performed by students directed by Sabrina Kahwaty at Buff State has a short run through February 25, Wed-Sat 7:00, also Sat 2/24 at 2:00, closing Sun 2/25 at 1:00. (Note: free community matinee on Friday, February 23 at 1:00 p.m.) All shows are in the Flexible Theatre in the Savage Theater and Communication Building on the Buffalo State University campus. There is plenty of free on-campus parking close to the venue in Parking Lots R-1, R-2, R-3 and R4. See the campus map
Tickets (Adults $20, Seniors, alumni, staff $14) can be purchased in advance here. Student tickets are only $8 but must be purchased at the door with ID.
RUNTIME: 90 minutes without intermission
CONTENT WARNING: This show deals with inappropriate situations due to power imbalances. Also cigarettes are seen on stage as are both oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies (hey, we all have our triggers).
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Ten years ago, Ken was a Chemistry teacher and Chris was one of his students and they had what might have been an inappropriately close relationship. Now, back at the same high school, Ken, as principal Dr. Kenneth James, uses one of a current student’s (Emerson’s) suspiciously high grades as a license to grill Emerson’s teacher Chris (his old student now also back at the same high school). Dr. James (no longer “Ken” as he repeatedly points out to his former student) is relentless as the younger teacher is forced to confront uncomfortable truths about both past and present.
THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION:
I don’t usually review student productions and there will be no “Buffalos” assigned but because TEACH is by an important local playwright, Donna Hoke, whose recent productions on professional stages have been well received around town, this is a play you might want to know about. It shows us what theater “should” be and it certainly takes on a contemporary topic.
TEACH (student Emerson’s nickname for a favorite teacher named Chris) is about teacher-student relationships. When is the teacher’s desire to encourage the student truly motivated by a professional desire to help and when is it motivated by another kind of desire? When is an act of kindness appropriate and when is it not? Just how steep and just how slippery is that “slippery slope?” When is a box of cookies just a box of cookies and when is it Pandora’s box? And are we condemned to repeat mistakes of the past or do we have control?
While Ken (Dr. Kenneth James) is always presented as male, played by Min Zo, one big aspect that’s “genius” in this play (although possibly confusing for a few minutes at the start) is that the roles of both teacher Chris and student Emerson are simultaneously played by both male and female presenting actors. So the teacher Chris as played by “Female Chris” Jemia Bennett can walk out of the classroom and then a minutes later walk back in as “Male Chris” played by Manuel Mejia. And the student can sit in the classroom as “Female Emerson” played by Zoe Goñez and then sit in the same seat a minute later as “Male Emerson” played by Myshawn Sikes.
I say “genius” because this removes gender power (which is well covered, as it should be, in thousands of other shows not to mention recent well-publicized trials of famous men) and allows this show to focus more on other imbalances of power. It’s a play about being human, not about being male or female, and so it achieves gender parity, which is why I say that the plot device is “genius.”
Along the way, there are other little clever parallels drawn. Emerson the student smokes cigarettes and at several occasions offers one to teacher Chris who gave up smoking five years ago. But will Chris’s (note that I don’t say “will his” or “will her”) resolve last? Emerson also offers Chris cookies, including a chocolate chip cookie, and as chocolate causes a violent and unpleasant physical reaction in Chris, he/she refuses but then weakens and takes a bite with the inevitable result. After all, he/she is “only human.” And that’s one thing this play is about…. Being “only human.”
Kudos to director Kahwaty for having her actors quickly establish themselves and, as both teacher and student roles are played by two different actors, that has to happen over and over and it has to be believable. And it is!
The set design by Shawn Smith is very clever, wide open without walls with four mini-sets illuminated as needed and they are the principal’s office, the classroom, a park bench, and center stage directly addressing the audience. There is no “fussiness” or wasted time resetting the stage as has been painfully awkward in several other recent professional productions around town.
The costumes by Jaden Browne were quite appropriate to the ages and roles although perhaps a touch of gray in the principal’s hair might have added a little more gravitas as well as accentuated the age differences. Given all the quick entrances and exits and movements about the stage with four actors playing two different roles, kudos to Stage Manager Shelby McNulty for keeping all that straight. And the pre-curtain opening announcements about turning off your cell phones, etc. were amusingly presented as “morning announcements.”
Remember when you were in college and you’d see a play or a movie and talk about it for hours afterward? This is one of those shows that might do that for you again.