Review: “Synergy” (Reading) at Denver Fringe Festival

“Synergy” is a new play written and directed by Fedrica Borlenghi centering around a trio of sisters and how they come together when the oldest sister, Cass, (Alexa Roosevelt) is accused of sexual assault by a client at her yoga studio. Her sister, Jackie (Taylor Cozort), who’s a lawyer, comes in to defend her without blinking. Though, their third sister, Lisa (Allison Larned), starts to realize that there may be more to these allegations than they initially thought.

“Synergy” at its core is a story about family and ultimately how far can a family member go before what they’ve done is too much to stand behind. This central question is pushed to the limit in this piece. With Cass the centerpiece of this dilemma, her two sisters must decide where they will stand. At first, both of them appear to be on her side, as most families would, but as more and more comes to light, each struggles to find any solid ground and fight for the ability to support their sibling.

While the story is positioned to be about this offending sibling (and it is, in many ways) the core of the questions this play is asking rests in the two other siblings. Each of them represents a different side of this issue. With the lawyer, Jackie representing blindly standing behind your family no matter what because they are just that: family. Whereas, Lisa represents that family member that begins questioning and investigating. Lets the facts supersede blood. The play forces us all to decide which family member we would want to be. And while many of us may think that that’s an easy question, “Synergy” is evidence that it’s not.

My biggest concern with this play is that while I understand what it’s doing and the questions that it’s asking, sometimes, the sympathetic light gets to cast a little too heavily on the assaulting sibling. Of course, some of this builds suspicion and has us not quite know what has happened. If I recall, we don’t even know it’s about an assault until partway through. But as more and more are getting revealed, this person is still positioned as the main character that we are meant to sympathize with because she is the center of the story. I feel the same story could have been told with it positioning the two opposing siblings as the main driving force of the play and letting Cass be more of a supporting role. This sibling dynamic is the most interesting part of the show and it would have avoided any accidental sympathy for the assaulter.

The three actors all gave very engaging performances as the three sisters. All three of them played off of each other wonderfully and even with the limitations of it just being a reading, you really believed every moment and hoped that they would find a way to come together or at least go on with their lives feeling good about the relationships they built.

It’s hard to say much more because this was a reading and not a full production, but all of the ingredients are there for a really powerful piece. I look forward to seeing how it develops in future drafts and iterations. Again, perhaps positioning the offending sister more in a side role and bringing the other sisters to the forefront would solve some of the dangers of sympathy for the assaulter.  But, overall, Borlenghi has crafted a very powerful play that I look forward to seeing more of.

“Synergy” was written and directed by Fedrica Borlenghi.

The reading premiered at Denver Fringe Festival in June 2021.

It featured: Alexa Roosevelt, Taylor Cozort, and Allison Larned.

With composer Judette Elliston