Family loyalty versus personal perseverance. That's the lesson offered before an intimate audience at the Columbus Dance Theatre when Raconteur Theatre Company presents local playwright Sarah Tobin's "Mom and Pop."
The play chronicles the rocky dynamics of a dysfunctional family facing a decision to sell or keep their family business, Hendrick Hardware. The story is based loosely off Tobin's own family's business, the Columbus-based Zettler Hardware.
The story line, though slow at times, had some pretty high-class moments. Tobin, an Olentangy drama teacher who spent some time as a playwright in New York and Chicago, definitely did her research. The play travels through three generations of Hendricks, including very finite details along the way. The period music, language and cultural references add to the show's overall authenticity.
The actors, however, are the one's who clearly make the play a success. Three siblings and a lifelong family friend are at the center of the plot, with their chemistry at times sending up fireworks.
The standout is JT Walker III, who's been making his rounds lately, recently taking on the lead role in Shadowbox's "Jesus Christ Superstar" and appearing opposite "Mom and Pop" director Jill Ceneskie in Raconteur's "Roulette" shortly before that. In this show he takes on Luke, a temperamental recovering alcoholic. Suffering form a severe case of Middle Child Syndrome, Luke spends much of the show tearing the store apart and exploding at those ready to let the business go. Walker disappears behind Luke's troubled exterior, wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
Mary-Aileen St. Cyr plays Eda, the youngest Hendrick. Though pregnant and in the midst of a divorce, she seems to be the only sibling who has it together. St. Cyr brought a special innocence to a character whose life was crumbling around her. Opposite St. Cyr stands Q.T.A. Schofield-Peaks as Bartholomew, the store clerk and family friend whose former forbidden relationship (forbidden because of his skin color) with St. Cyr showed residual strain. Schofield-Peaks plays into Bart's realist theology with ease, bringing a much-needed dimension to the cast.
Danielle Mari plays the eldest sibling, Gail, a small-town court reporter constantly afraid she'll be killed by gang bangers who've seen her in court. Mari wears Gail's paranoia well, channeling it into every part of her persona.
Sam Blythe plays it cool as the main patriarch. In a double role as young and old Ed, he easily switches between the character's uncertainty toward the beginning of his life and the feelings of acquired understanding and regret towards the end. Vera Ryan Cremeans shines during her momentary appearance as Ed's racist and overbearing girlfriend (and ultimately wife), Becky.
Many of the characters fill double roles during the play's flashbacks of the store in 1937 and 1958. Walker and Danielle Mari portray the siblings' grandparents at the beginning of the store's history, offering spot-on motherland accents and some keen tender moments.
Censekie's smart direction show in the way she handles the characters' intense interactions, while Maureen Malinowski's set design and Jaylene Henderson's costumes were definite enhancements that keep the play grounded in reality, making it all the more relatable.
Raconteur continues to showcase "Mom and Pop" until Dec. 20. Check out the company's Web site for more information.
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