Along Cherokee Street's Antique Row, through an alleyway of rusty remnants and wrought iron running alongside Revisionist Inn, there's a crackling fire pit, hot cider, s'mores, and a makeshift stage on the back of a broken-down facade -- the perfect setting for playwright Laura Schellhardt's "The K of D", presented by director Tom Martin’s Blue Rose Stage Collective and featuring the dexterous Em Piro, the founder and creative fireball behind St. Lou Fringe. She inhabits over a dozen characters to present a legend that was generated by an odd series of events that followed the tragic death of a young boy.
After a few shared ghost stories, a girl from the audience says she’s got one – more urban legend than ghost story. She tells us about the rural town of St. Marys, Ohio, her group of rowdy childhood friends who spend their summers hanging out on a pier by a man-made lake, and Charlotte McGraw. It was Charlotte’s twin brother, Jamie, who was hit by a blue Dodge while he was skateboarding to school.
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Em Piro
Photo credit: Todd Heilman
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The death of her twin leaves her devastated beyond speech, and a dying kiss from him seems to impart Charlotte with a lethal knack that the group of friends try to figure out during the course of the play, along with a possible connection to the appearance of an eerie gray heron spotted on the lake. In addition to our narrator, the kids in the group include the muscle-head, a pair of brothers, the jaded leader beyond her years and the monied valley-girl. The adults include Johnny Whistler, the reckless redneck driver of the car that killed Jamie who moves next door to the McGraws, his flock of girlfriends, Charlotte's father, who's got a dark streak of his own, and her slightly deranged mother, obsessed with her accolades as a teacher. Then of course there's Charlotte herself, who stopped talking after her brother was killed.
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Em Piro
Photo credit: Todd Heilman
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After a professional premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2008, this play is picking up steam, being performed in more and more places, but Martin and Piro's choice to stage it outdoors is a brilliant first. Piro, slight in stature and huge on physical energy, deftly guides us through the tale, embodying the wide range of kids and adults with a quick change in voice and carriage. Atmospheric sound design by Michael Perkins helps color in the tone wonderfully, and Mark Wilson adds a bit of nifty stagecraft with shadow puppets and the use of a fan, as well as providing the scenic and lighting design, and Billy Croghan's original music effectively punctuates the story. Playwright Schellhardt, who spent her summers at St. Marys as a child, has an intriguing script, and though it's slender on payoff, the terrific creative elements of this production, along with Martin's well-paced direction and Piro's tireless performance, elevate the material to a unique night of memorable theater. It's playing until the 25th. Did I mention there's yummy cobbler for after the show? There's cobbler after the show.
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Photo credit: Todd Heilman
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THE K OF D: AN URBAN LEGEND
Written by Laura Schellhardt
Directed by Tom Martin
Revisionist Inn, 1950 Cherokee St.
through October 25 | tickets: suggested donation $10 - $20
Performances October 17 at 11pm, doors open at 10:30, October 24 and 25 at 10pm, doors open at 9:30
Cast:
Em Piro
Creative:
Shadow puppets, scenic and lighting design by Mark Wilson; sound design by Michael Perkins; original music by Billy Croghan.
Musicians:
Billy Croghan and Gavin Duffy.
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