Obsessively Sam: Surreal Real World
The Vortex,
through November 5
The set is college-house trashed — Whataburger boxes and old newspapers adorn every square inch of floor space; a beat-up chair and couch hover around a perpetually on TV. As unto a twisted and actually entertaining version of MTV’s Real World, Obsessively Sam (written and directed by Richard Hinojosa) documents a group of twentysomethings sharing a house in hysterical fashion. Acronymically named roommates Ob, Sess, Ive, Ly, Sam, and “Ive’s Girl” interact in the realms of love (incestuous obsession), violence (death by high heel to the eye), conspiracy politics (“McDonald’s owns all the colon cancer clinics!”) and the inane (bust-enhancing exercises).
She-who-must-die, Ive’s Girl, is played brilliantly by Teresa Ryno. Wearing high heels and a push-up bra that emphasizes her “perkies” (as she calls them), Ive’s Girl successively alienates everyone in the household with gum-chewing, guffawing, and incessant stories about her afflictions, which include lung cancer, AIDS, and abusive homosexual foster parents. Brian Eckstein is expertly apathetic as Ive, the TV-aholic who never says a word. Russ Roten is appealingly brash as Ob, the Donna Reed-worshipping athlete in the bunch. Stephanie Woodyard does a good job as the comparatively sane, if somewhat prissy Sess. The chemistry between Le Easter’s Ly and Clint McCown’s Sam is palpable, as they play a brother and sister eccentric and in love.
The plot skips around in time so that the slaughter of Ive’s Girl both begins and ends the play. Despite the time hops, the play flows with exceeding grace until the last scene, in which the inexplicable recasting of the murderer is confusing and seems somewhat gratuitous, but paves the way for a promising sequel. Overall charming and completely engaged with one another and the audience, KAiROS Company pulls off a fun and funny play about college life, interpersonal relationships, and justifiable homicide.
This article appears in Carol Keeton Rylander.