The Book Club Play is all for the love of the book
As a former member of a book club, going into The Book Club Play at Horizon Theatre I knew there was bound to be a whole lot of drama. Books seem to release something that can either be really good or, in my book club’s case, really bad. The Book Club Play had a combination of both, and luckily ended with a continuation of the love of the book. Written by Karen Zacarias, The Book Club Play hits on all the contemporary thoughts and worries about the book world: What is literature? Digital or paper? Commercial or canon? These are all conversations that we have had with fellow page turners and The Book Club Play covers them all in a real, humorous, and all-for-the-love-of-the-book way.
Directed by Jeff Adler, the cast took on a mixed group of character traits, likes and lives and still had them find a way to become a family. The original book club was a group of five: Ana (played by Wendy Melkonian); her husband Rob (played by Bryan Brendle); Rob’s former roommate and Ana’s former love, Will (Played by John Benzinger); Will’s coworker Jen (played by Maria Rodriguez-Sager); and Ana’s coworker, Lily (played by Danielle Deadwyler). In a normal day setting or evening out, these people would not all be hanging out together. But their love of literature, and a little bit of loneliness, kept them reading and meeting.
Their starter group is complicated on its own, but no one seems to ever step on any toes. There is more passive aggression than comfort but the issues consist of the emasculation and quiet torment of Rob through Ana, Ana’s sense of queenship over the book club due to her uppity reading choices and columnist title, Jen’s constant lateness, and Lily’s cracking of “it’s because I’m black jokes.” But all issues were calm and easy to deal with – or more likely ignore and hope they go away – until Jen brought someone new into the mix.
Alex (played by Dan Triandiflou) is the smart, hot topic conversation starter, that is not willing to shy from uncomfortable talking points. Through Alex, although Ana is disapproving of his participation, the group becomes stronger after the bomb goes off and all conflicts and confessions come to a head.
Alex is the person that introduces an open mind to the world of books. He is a literature professor that is tired of reading the same old classics and only taking in what the upper crust of the literary world consider worth reading. His most poignant opinion, one that Ana did not agree with, was that to truly be a cultured human being one must read all of it: the canon, the smut, the Twilight. To know what a culture is you have to experience all sides of it. The opera must be accompanied by American Idol, or else you are only seeing a single, small slice of what a culture is.
The Book Club Play is a contemporary work that touches on it all. And though it hits on some serious moments and actions that are not quite dealt with properly (the infidelity between Rob and Ana), the main focus of the play is what starts the conversations and sticks in the mind of viewers. It is done in a humorous, fast paced way with interesting side monologues from those involved in different positions and trades of the publishing and book business.
Horizon Theatre is running The Book Club Play till June 23. For tickets and show times, visit horizontheatre.com.
