JOSE'S PLAY

by JGW Productions

Review by Laura Darling

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Local playwright-actor Jacob Garrett White has written himself a lead role as a playwright in this play-with-play-within, each of which contain a lot of autobiographical material. 

Jack (White) has been working on a new play, based on his childhood best friend, whom he has not seen in 20 years, and his wife, Franny (Melannie Vásquez Lara) is exceedingly curious about the play, having heard stories of José over the years.

White Jack and Latina (it matters) Franny have shipped their “terrible” two-year-old son off to Grandma’s for the night and are about to settle down in front of some Netflix movies. (Their sex life seems to have gone to the dogs, which might account for her later passive-aggressive behavior.)

Suddenly José shows up at their door, for reasons unclear, after 20 years. Jack is uncomfortable; Franny is delighted; José is enigmatic but seems very happy to see his old friend. Jack attempts to send him off, but Franny insists that this is the perfect time for them to read the play aloud. Nothing Jack says will deter her.

As they read the play, each man taking the role based on his own life and Franny playing multiple parts, we learn that Jack has scripted the story of José’s life, from his birth in Honduras and adoption by a family down the street from Jack’s, to their teen years and later troubles with the law.  The “play” within the play seems more like a screenplay

That her husband has essentially co-opted his friend’s life does not sit well with Franny. Nor with José. Jack is forced to take a look at his own ethics and attitudes, especially toward race, immigrants, and class.

There are multiple layers to this play, and the actors are up to the task. I was surprised to learn that Vásquez is a senior theater major at Ithaca College; despite tendencies toward manipulativeness, her Franny displays maturity and comfort with her own convictions.  Cole Long plays the struggling José with restraint, and Jacob White is thoroughly believable as the playwright who slowly comes to realize he has stepped over some lines.

The set at Acting Out New York is delightfully Fringe-y, the setting intimate, as if we’re sitting in next room watching the action play out in the living room of Jack and Franny. This is an ambitious play, and White has chosen an unusual avenue via which to air the “R” word. It should provoke some good thought and discussions, but it’s also quite entertaining.