New York Review: “Broken Story” at the Gene Frankel Theatre
Featured: Jessie Ruane, Joanna Parson. Photo by John Robert Hoffman
Max Berry, Contributing Critic - New York City
Written by Cyndy A. Marion, “Broken Story” follows young reporter, Jess (Jessie Ruane), as she travels to L.A to investigate the murder of one of her favorite authors, who also happens to be connected with the murder that she has been obsessed with for most of her life. Told in real time and in flashback, we see Jess gradually uncover the mystery of both murders and put the broken pieces back together.
While the mystery was relatively compelling, “Broken Story” is an example of a lot of people talking about things without them really leaving an impact. So much information was given that I felt we weren’t given enough time to live with the characters. This made the emotional moments of the play, while still impactful, far less so than they could have been. The best scenes by far were the flashback scenes with the author, Jane (Joanna Parson) and either her friend Darby (Amy Fulgham) or her manager Kip (Joseph Cassese). I was far more engaged in these scenes than anything else simply because, since these took place before the murder, there was much less information fed to us, plus the relationships and conflicts in these moments were much more compelling. I could have watched a whole play that took place before the murder and was just made up of scenes like that.
The ruled of this play were changed far too often as well, to the point where it was unclear what should or should not make sense. Starting the play off with the Jess observing Jane’s past as an outsider and then jumping to her communicating to her ghost without any clear reason why and inconsistently speaking to the audience made the play feel confused and a little unfinished. It was difficult for me to engross myself into the world because I didn’t know what the rules and limitations of this world were.
There is heavy exposition throughout the piece. Which makes sense for a detective story but the details were delivered so quickly that I found myself having to build the foundation back up again before the next one was given. There were also many moments of characters talking about qualities or aspects of another character that would have been much more compelling to see play out. There’s a lot of us being told things about the characters and very little time dedicated to being shown those things.
The ending of the show, while unexpected, felt out of left field and therefore the impact it had was lessened. Though, this scene was delivered beautifully from Ruane. There is also so much time spent on who killed Jane and then it seemingly fizzles out towards the end, revealing a rather disappointing murderer.
A final shoutout must be given to the set design by Andis Gjoni who created a beautifully semi-realistic set framed by literal broken pieces. It created the perfect atmosphere walking in to the play and throughout.
“Broken Story” has many interesting aspects and is decently acted aside from a few over the top moments here and there, but it feels, much like the murder at the beginning of the story, unfinished. I hope that this story is explored further and I look forward to seeing it develop even more.
“Broken Story was written and directed by Cyndy A. Marion.
It features: Jessie Ruane, Joanna Parson, Amy Fulgham, Joseph Cassese, and Rod Sweitzer
With set design by Andis Gjoni
Lighting Design by Brian Aldous
Costume Design by Derek Nye Lockwood.
It performs at the Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond St, New York NY 10012) November 8th-16th.
“Broken Story” is presented through White Horse Theater Company