New York Review: “ray gun say0nara” at The New Ohio Theatre
Featured: Justy Kosak, Jenna Vezina, Madison Nielsen. Photo by Al Foote III
Max Berry, Contributing Critic - New York City
“ray gun say0nara” is a science fiction play with music written by Steven Mark Tenney that tells multiple stories all intersecting and all centering around the character of Brad Mayhem. An alien or entity that was supposed to go to Earth and bring peace or balance and his evil twin would be locked up far far away, however, the evil twin wound up being the one sent to Earth. We now must get Brad Mayhem back to where he belongs. Oh, and there’s a prom in space and we’re in the fifties. And a family is on vacation. And they’re all having an existential crisis, I guess. It’s all more than a little confusing. Truly I still don’t think I could really explain what happened in this play. Some people came on stage. Maybe they were in space. They said space things. A lot of space things. So many space things that it started to sound like white noise. It felt as though all the things present were meant to be some sort of allegory but whatever that was, was not presented or explored in a way that made any logical sense and came across as forced.
It felt as though Tenney was trying to throw as much science fiction jargon into a single show. Terminology was thrown around and never explained. The world did not feel developed in a clear way. This lack of direction made it difficult to identify with any one character because without a clear world, it was next to impossible to understand their given circumstances. The over-abundance of characters and stories did not help this problem either. Just when I was beginning to understand one character or plotline, we moved on to another. The first act came and went and I did not care about a single character. The play also featured and ensemble of dancers. However, their costumes made it extremely difficult to see the lines of their movement and many of the dances felt muddled and unspecific as a result.
Though, two people that really stood out amongst the madness were Justy Kosek as Brad Mayhem and Joel Henry Little as TD Holden Kosek gave a fun over the top performance of the classic 1950s heartthrob. He spoke in a deep radio announcer voice for the entire show which made any line he delivered delightfully ridiculous. I cared more about his character than I did any other and it is almost certainly due in no small part to Kosek’s full commitment to the lunacy. Little as TD Holden was also a joy to watch on stage. While I didn’t quite understand why some of the lines he said were being said, Little delivered them with a shy awkward charm that contrasted the loud and wacky characters perfectly. Also, the music is one of the best parts of the show and almost all of the songs are sung by Little his voice has, in itself, a kind of space-like quality, combining a 1950s style with a futuristic sound. I could have closed my eyes and listened to him sing the entire show.
In a show like this, use of technology is very important and could make or break the show. The use of projections in “ray gun say0nara” was very well done. Constantly moving and changing, we would see an entire galaxy fly by. I found myself drawn to each new projection and very much enjoyed how they were incorporated throughout the show.
“ray gun say0nara”, despite having clearly talented actors and a talented tech team, is unfocused and confusing, trying to do too many things at once and as a result not doing much of anything at all. It is clear that the playwright has a huge imagination and I look forward to seeing where that takes him next, however, for me, this one missed the mark.
ray gun say0nara was written by Steven Mark Tenney and directed by Janet Bentley.
It featured Timothy Babcock, Dan Chen, Ivette Dumeng, Alexa Elmy, Olaf Eide, Melina Finck, Jacquelyn Avery Greenspan, Erin Grant, Theresa Johnson, Kelsey Lea Jones, Lizzie Kehoe, Justy Kosek, Joel Henry Little, Joyce Miller, Sam Ogilvie, Jean Louise O’Sullivan, Laura Pruden, Sean Leigh Phillips, Mike Roche, Randall Rodriguez, Jenna Vezina, Rich Wisneski
With dancers: Yukari Osaka, Ayaka Yoshimoto, Madisen Nielsen, Georgia Riccardi
Score by Topu Lyo and Mike Thies (Live Footage)
Music and Lyrics by Steven Mark Tenney
Costume Design by Janet Mervin
Choreography by Yukari Osaka
Set Design by Raye Levine
Lighting Design by Gilbert Lucky Pearto
Sound Design by Andy Evan Cohen
Projections by Roly Polys
It runs at The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher St, New York, NY 10014) December 4th-2nd.