The pace in this was killing me, but it starts to get very interesting. Seemed very real. Authentic characters. ( )

I read this play, "Circle Mirror Transformation" by Annie Baker today, and I loved it!

The action of the play takes place during a six week acting class held at a community center. The characters consist of a teacher and her four students: a teenage girl, a former actress brushing up on her craft, the teacher's husband, and a recently divorced carpenter. Aside from the actress, Theresa, none of the students are actors.

The action starts with an acting exercise, the purpose of which the audience or reader may not readily understand, but take my advice and roll with it. The play finds its stride when the "actors" start to make connections with one another and to reveal themselves, becoming emotionally vulnerable in the process. It's a cliche to say so, but you WILL laugh. You WILL cry. And at certain points you'll grin like an idiot.

I once was in a production of "Hamlet" where my wife directed, and a good friend of mine, who was at that time not experienced in theater, acted as stage manager. My wife was agonizing over how all the characters in the scene would make their entrances. Finally she said, "let's discover everyone", a theater term meaning that when the scene opens, everyone is already onstage. My friend the stage manager knew just enough of wacky actor antics to interpret "Let's discover everyone" as a cue to engage in some of those touchy feely acting exercises that acting classes are renowned for. He actually raised one foot like Snagglepuss preparing to "exit, stage right" at a rapid clip, not wanting to be a part of any "sharing".

Let me just say that this play involves everything that my friend feared. But let the reader or the theatergoer have no fear. All the discovery is done by the characters in the play. Not by the reader or viewer. Yours is only to experience vicariously the pleasure, laughter, heartbreak, and wonder that these characters go through on their journey to discover themselves and each other.
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