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Usher Nonsense Vol. 2, Bo. 26
ON THE MOUNTAIN, by Christopher Shinn, Directed by Jo Bonney
With Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Alison Pill, James Lloyd Reynolds and
Amy Ryan
Scenic Design Neil Patel, Costume Design Mimi O'Donnell, Lighting Design David Weiner
At Playwrights Horizon through March 13
The Playbill cover for this play is a photograph of a bowl of cereal – all kinds of dry cereal mixed
together and piled high. WE learn that this is a centerpiece of a short story written by the teenager in this
play. We learn that because she gives her short story to her mom’s new boyfriend and asks for his
opinion. He gives his opinion to the mom after they make up from their first fight, and in this opinion he
tells the whole story of the story, reflecting on how awesome it is and what an awesome daughter this
woman has and how she rocks as a writer. It takes him about 10 minutes to tell the story of the story
while holding the text in his hand. The text of the story is one page. Kind of like Jesus and the fishes –
there’s more there than you think…. perhaps that’s what the reader thought when this was OK’d for
production.
While it strikes a vibrant tone about teenage angst and depression, we never find out WHY this girl is
depressed or why her mother (a recovering alcoholic) insists on having an affair with a guy whose
vocabulary has not progressed much past high school and who has no interest in life other than being a
groupie for a now dead rock star who happens to have been the love of the mother’s life. She also
brings one other guy home for about 15 minutes and we get to watch them smoke cigarettes badly and
have a conversation about nothing before she jumps his bones, embarrasses him, and then asks him to
leave.
No plot, no character development, no structure. It’s a combination that never fails.
Whatever they are smoking at Playwrights – it’s not the good stuff.
©2005 by Tulis McCall