The new play
One-Shot, premiering at Six Points Theater, takes us back to 1999, when we rented VHS tapes from video stores to watch movies at home. It was also a time when we were beginning to see more LGBTQ+ representation on TV and in movies, but it was still dangerous to come out in many parts of the country. The play tells the story of two young gay men in a small Southern town trying to navigate that world, with successes, set backs, and heartaches. Written by
Playwrights' Center affiliated writer Andrew Rosendorf and inspired by his experience growing up as a "closed queer kid in the late-1990s," with a talented three-person cast and a design so detailed it'll make you nostalgic for browsing through video stores looking for a movie to watch (if you're over a certain age),
One-Shot is a moving, funny, relatable, and at times heart-breaking play.
See it at Highland Park Community Center now through November 8.
At an independent video store called Charles's Video, employees and film buffs David and Martin, who are in a relationship, are filming a one-shot movie before the store opens. Someone has spray-painted homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs on the window, which further traumatizes David, whose father was killed in a shooting at temple one year ago. Martin is also living in fear that someone will discover that he's an undocumented immigrant. The store's owner, Charles, an older Black gay man who has been dealing with discrimination for decades, is supportive of them but wants them to be discreet. The boys have both applied for a scholarship to NYC film school, and plan to go together. The drama is heightened when one of them gets in, and the other doesn't, which tests their commitment to each other.
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David (Carter Graham) and Martin (Nicco Sacco)
(photo by Sarah Whiting) |
JC Cutler directs the play, and allows space for the story and dialogue to breathe. The play is written in a naturalistic style, with characters hesitating or not completing sentences, so they sound like real people, real teenagers, instead of hyper polished. #TCTheater veteran Warren C. Bowles portrays Charles with dignity, in a lived in performance. The teens are played by a couple of "BFA kids," products of the U of M/Guthrie BFA program, who in my experience are always great. Carter Graham, a recent graduate, plays the more confident David, somehow believable and sympathetic despite the choices he makes. Current senior Nicco Sacco plays the more sensitive and unsure Martin, who gains confidence throughout the story. The two are so vulnerable and open-hearted in the portrayal of this tender relationship, that it makes the conflict that much more heart-breaking.
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David (Carter Graham), Martin (Nicco Sacco),
and Charles (Warren C. Bowles, photo by Sarah Whiting) |
The video store is recreated on stage with painstaking detail, from the bulky computer at the register, to the movies lined up on the shelves and movie posters hanging up on the walls. Film buffs will appreciate the many references to classic and "newer" 20th century movies. David and Martin charmingly reenact scenes from some of their favorites, like
Sleepless in Seattle and
Star Wars, with lighting and sound cues to tell us we're in a movie now. The boys are dressed like typical '90s teens, with blue "Charles's Video" polo shirts. (Scenic design by Brady Whitcomb, props design by Bobbie Smith, lighting design by Todd M. Reemtsma, sound design by Bailey Fenn, and costume design by Sarah Harris.)
A dramaturgical display in the lobby shows a map of the US notated by advances in equality and representation around the country in the '90s, as well as steps backwards marked by violence and discrimination. It feels like we're in a similar period now, with forces of love pulling us in one direction and forces of hate pulling us in the other direction. The playwright began writing this play shortly after the 2016 election, when he "felt overtly the homophobia and antisemitism that had drifted into the shadows but never truly disappeared" (per a note in the program). Nearly 30 years after the action of this play and it still feels very relevant, even if the way we watch movies has changed.
