Review: Epic Theatre Begins Fifth Season with Powerful THE GUYS

Real life tragedies are, and probably always have been, constant fodder for fictional stories. How often do we see "Based on True Events" at the beginning of a movie or TV show, or read it at the outset of a novel? Writing a fictional tale based on a real life tragedy as devastating and tragic as 9/11 is especially tricky ground to tread. It's a fine line to walk, creating a story that is interesting, engaging, emotional, and perhaps even entertaining, while not coming across as if you're exploiting, betraying or cheapening what really happened and the very real lives that were affected.

Epic Theatre Company begins its fifth full-length season with an attempt to walk that fine line, presenting the Rhode Island premiere of Anne Nelson's play The Guys. A simple, straightforward story, Nelson's work offers us only two characters, two people who would be complete strangers if not for the events in New York City on that day. Joan is a New York City writer, and transplant from Oklahoma, who is at the center of the play, often breaking into monologues to address the audience directly about the events of the day and how it impacted her and everyone else. Nick is a FDNY Captain, one who lost a number of men in the towers during the attacks. He arrives at Joan's doorstep asking for a very specific form of help: he needs her to help him write the eulogies for the men who died while under his command.

That very simple premise gives Nelson a lot to work with and it's both surprising and disappointing that she doesn't do more with it. The play is only seventy minutes long and could easily be a lot longer. It just begins to scratch the surface of all the issues swirling around and within these two characters. Speaking of them, the script's major weak point is that we never really get to know them very well. Yes, Joan tells us a lot about herself but we never really get to dig deep. And we mostly learn about her through her telling us, rather than seeing her actions and behavior, which goes against the old saying, "show, don't tell."

It's also odd that Nelson chose to make Joan the center of the play even though she's the much less interesting character. Nick has the potential to be a fascinating study in the way the events of 9/11 would impact one specific type of person who played a very specific role on that day. One of the best ways to tell a fictional story about a real life tragedy is to use one specific individual person and really dive deep into their life, using that to tell a more universal story. Nelson starts to go down that path here, but we only gets hints and glimpses of who Nick really is and what his life is and was really like. It would have been great to learn a lot more about him, maybe see more of a balance between the two characters, rather than one character getting more of the focus.

Directing a two-person play can also be a challenge, and Wendy Overly does a very nice job overall here. She keeps the staging simple and uncomplicated, letting the telling of the story rule the day. Her actors move in ways that feel organic and natural, there's nothing that seems out of place or strange. And she makes sure that they hit the right notes, emotionally, for the most part, although she can only control that to a certain point. It's a little surprising to see a few technical details get lost along the way. Especially in an intimate black box setting like Epic, coffee pots should be filled with something that looks like black coffee and the video projections should actually make sense or fit in the context of the story and what's being said by the characters.

As for the characters, the role of Joan is played here by Valerie Remillard Myette, who doesn't really do much to distinguish herself in the role, but it's hard to say if that's the performance or the role as written. She handles the monologues skillfully and does have some nice individual moments when she creates some believable emotions and truthful reactions to what's going on. There are some other moments when she would benefit from slowing down and taking more time with the telling of a story or living in a moment. With such a short play, there's time.

The standout performance here, and one of the major reasons to see this show is Jason Quinn as Nick. Quin is always reliable and excellent in pretty much any role and he brings his usual A-game here. He also finds an impressive level of truthful emotion that never flags for the entire length of the play. He seems on the verge of tears at any moment, but in a way that's believable. While he brings that kind of emotional gravitas to the role, he also finds the moments where he can be charming, charismatic and even funny, moments which he also nails.

Aside from that performance, likely to be one of the season's best, there are other reasons why you should check out this production. It offers the story of 9/11 in a way that feels different, in a good way. It feels real, like moment that could have actually happened, and who knows, maybe it really did. And it manages to delve into the tragedy of that day, while also being engaging and even entertaining. Even with the script's flaws mentioned above, the play manages to be a thoughtful and powerful remembrance of the events of that day and reminder of how and what we should still be learning from it.

The Guys is being presented as a limited run at Theater 82 in Cranston, located at 82 Rolfe Square. The show will run September 16th - 18th, 23rd - 25th. Evening performances will be at 7pm, matinees are at 3pm. Epic Theatre will also be offering free tickets to firemen, police officers, and EMT's, as well as high school students, which they did last year. For tickets, visit the company's website at epictheatreri.org.

Pictured: Jason Quinn. Photo by Dave Cantelli Photography