Next Window Please World Premiere at GROUP rep

Next Window Please
by Doug Haverty
directed by Richard Alan Woody
the GROUP rep @ the Lonny Chapman Theatre
through September 17

Actor/playwright Doug Haverty's latest world premiere play is a slice of life drama about the inner workings of a bank centering around the tellers who comprise the banking team. Entitled Next Window Please, the piece, despite its commendable message during our troubled economic times and its excellent cast and direction, now onstage at the GROUP rep in NoHo, never catches fire theatrically.

Haverty is known for his genuinely crisp dialogue and in Next Window Please the exchanges between the women tellers are real and completely believable, and each character is given two monologues to speak about their problematic personal lives, many of which are thought-provoking and quite touching. The basic plotline is thin: the bank is merging, and there are expected cutbacks in each branch. In this particular branch three tellers must go, while two will remain. Not an easy task for Cassie (Kady Douglas), who, as head of the cashiers, must make the final decision. There are Lulu (Stephanie Colet), Genevieve (Bianca Gisselle), Delia (Trisha Hershberger) - the only red-blooded American, hailing from the deep south, Sophie (Shelby Kocee) and Bennie (Gina Yates). The only male is a new executive trainee named Arthur (Chris Jordan Wolfe), who, of course, is the object of the women's gossip and flirtations. Most of the women, being foreigners, talk about their lean hungry years and their yearnings to make it big in America. And, in spite of an occasional caustic or jealous remark, that women coworkers are infamous for, they all get along ... splendidly. In fact, however intensely problematic their personal lives may be, they seem to create a pleasant supportive ambiance as a team at work, where they find at least a temporary state of happiness. This comraderie between the gals is what sustains the play and makes it interesting. The action plods along, and its pedestrian, mundane setting and lack of urgent riveting drama make it otherwise less than memorable. Yes, there is a holdup, but we only hear about it; yes, Bennie lapses into a diabetic fit, but is all this enough to sustain an entire play?

The cast, under Dick Woody's steady hand, are all terrific. Yates' cranky Armenian Bennie has a sincerely moving monologue about the loss of her cocker spaniel, which she handles beautifully. Colet is likeable and sympathetic as Lulita, whose Mexican roots make her care deeply for her family. Kocee plays Sophie's sly, cunning nature magnificently, and Hershberger is sheer delight as she plays Delia's aggressively outspoken southern charms to the hilt. Douglas is effective as Cassie, but perhaps underplays hr dilemma a bit, and Wolfe does what he can, being the useless boy toy in this woman's world.

Chris Winfield and Richard Alan Woody have created a smart, realistic set of the bank behind the windows, from management's perspective, and Angela M. Eads has designed some lovely costumes especially those for Kady Douglas.

Next Window Please, which is far too long, is by and large a woman's play and has some wonderful, engrossing moments, but as a whole, lacks the theatricality to make it truly satisfying. Where are the sparks?

 

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