Review: Carly Mensch's NOW CIRCA THEN at the Silver Meteor Gallery

Sometimes I get sad. Sad that we in the Bay Area are not living in a major arts center. It makes me want to use a frowny-face emoji whenever writing about it. Yes, of course we have the Straz Center, museums, the pre-show organ at the Tampa Theater, etc., but they're not enough to satiate my love of the arts. I feel like a not-so-spoiled Veruca Salt: I want more. Worst of all, there are too few homegrown professional theatre companies in the Tampa Bay area, especially considering our population size. We seem to be primarily a sports town, not a theatre one (or an arts one), and this is one thing that I wish we could change. Can we be a major city with a vibrant art scene? Or are we just always going to be a big town that doesn't even dare have delusions of grandeur (we don't even try)? Don't misunderstand me, the professional theatre companies that are here do very good work, but I just wish there were more to choose from.

So when I venture to Ybor City to the small Silver Meteor Gallery to watch a show, I am so thankful that they are here fighting the good fight. This tiny bread crumb of a theatre produces some really unique plays and keeps the faith with the locals. I've never seen an uninteresting show there. Oh, I've seen some not-so-good plays there, plays that leave you scratching your head, but never one that I was sorry to sit through. There's always something to offer. Last year, the best of the best was the Flannery O'Connor fest starring Betty-Jane Parks; this year, it's an odd little two-person play called NOW CIRCA THEN. I think it's time you check out this intimate space and see for yourself what they have to offer.

Carly Mensch's NOW CIRCA THEN is funny and quirky and oftentimes quite emotional. We follow the exploits of Gideon and Margie, two tour guides in a restored 19th Century tenement in New York's Lower East Side who do historical reenactments as an immigrant couple from the 1800's, Julian and Josephine Glockner. Gideon and Margie's off-stage antics start bleeding into their tour guide spiel (the audience is treated as their personal tour group, complete with the set roped off from us). The script itself is vastly entertaining while we're watching it, but it evaporates from our minds soon after leaving the theatre. Even though the humor is undermined by the seriousness of the storyline at times, the show is frippery of sorts, saved from triviality by the performances of two very strong young actors.

As Gideon, Nick Hoop proves why he's one of our area's finest up-and-coming performers. He's so full of energy and endearing idiosyncrasies, coming across like a huffy Sheldon Cooper. He even rearranges the room unnecessarily, straightening a clock and moving clothes on a line, before having sex. Hoop's theatricality is never boring, but it does tend to sometimes be too theatrical in the intimate surroundings of the Silver Meteor Gallery. In this space, less is often more, and even the slightest twitch can seem apocalyptic.

I love the instance when he's cleaning up the bedroom set, and he finds a white duster on the ground and doesn't quite realize where it goes. So many times an actor just puts it in its place, because that's what he's been told to do. But life isn't like that. Here, in a wonderful fleeting moment, a single facial expression tells us everything--here's a guy who lives his life in this museum and yet doesn't have a clue as to where something modern and as insignificant as a duster goes. A nice touch.

Marlene Peralta's Margie took me awhile to warm to. But then we experience her journey, from apathetic to someone with a desperate need to learn, and we fall for her erratic personality (as Gideon does). She's explosive yet totally alive. I saw Peralta in last year's Occupation at Jobsite Theater, and though she was quite good (and very intense), I couldn't understand a word she said. Not so here. She's superlative. And there is one moment where her performance elevates the whole play: Margie says those dreaded words ("I do not love you") to Gideon, and the words emerge so cold-hearted, so real, that all facades momentarily drop. It's a harrowing moment, seeing somebody totally wither before our eyes. The words hit Gideon like a shot in the gut, but he tries to hold it in but can't. I love it when two actors can go to this dark place--this very real moment in a play that's all over the place--and yet remain centered, where one is an emotional zeppelin and the other just popped him with her pin-prick of words. Peralta's brilliant turn here (her best moment) leads to the heartbreakingly real reaction of Hoop's Gideon (his best moment).

Director Ryan Bernier guides his actors well. I like it that the stage is sometimes empty at times, throwing off the pace, making it far more unpredictable and funny when the actors do enter. The set, by Michael A. Murphy, is wonderful, a great way to utilize the space. With laundry strung up on wires, fireplace, an old white bedframe with chipped paint, old fashioned sewing machine and stove, it looks authentic and serves the show well. I love Murphy's eye for detail (like the use of vintage newspapers). Bernier's lighting and costumes are suitable as well.

So this is a perfect play to introduce yourself to the Silver Meteor Gallery. Let's cherish the art that is already here instead of hemming and hawing over what isn't. And NOW CIRCA THEN, which closes August 22nd, is a great place to start.

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