Review: BROWNSTONE at Open Fist Theatre

Oh, the tales that the walls of an old house can tell. To say nothing of the floorboards, the crawlspaces, and, for all we know, maybe even the wiring.

Most decidedly, there are enticing stories that make up the life of one titular Manhattan BROWNSTONE of Catherine Butterfield’s play, and Butterfield has a flair for recounting three of them.  Before a word is spoken in director Ron West’s production for the Open Fist Theatre Company, six characters from three decades of the 20th century come onto the stage, sharing “their” space across the years. We will soon meet two young women just starting out their post-college journey, a wealthy young daughter of a titan of industry with the world seemingly at her feet (if she wants it) and a young would-be “power couple” of the early aughts who are so amorous in this prolog that they very nearly take out the wall of Jan Munroe’s scenery.

Kind of a poor man’s cousin to Tom Stoppard’s ARCADIA, BROWNSTONE sweeps across the 20th century, peeking in at historical milestones while the dreams of individuals dreams are formed, shattered and reassembled. The playwright’s story structure is engaging and West’s cast is rich with charisma, with the action fitting comfortably into Munroe’s smartly realized stage at the Atwater Village Theatre complex. BROWNSTONE will be catnip to anybody nursing daddy issues, and actually allows us not to shed a tear for someone who loses their life in a terrorist attack.

But that comes later. In 1937, the wealthy Davia (played by Chelsea Spirito) enjoys her own company during a party being thrown by her hugely rich father. Breaking into her reverie is Steven (Matthew Goodrich) a smartly-dressed journalist who – Davia correctly suspects – her father intends her to marry. Steven is charming and instantly smitten, but Davia dreams of living an artist’s life in Paris and doing whatever else she can do to cross her dad.

In the same building in 1978, college classmates Deena (Rosie Byrne) and Maureen (Amber Tiara) have just moved into a cramped and slightly dilapidated set of rooms in the same building. Their plan is to become Broadway stars, a dream initially bankrolled by Deena’s oil baron of a daddy back in the Lone Star State. Deena happily accepts the money, the favors and even the furniture shipped from her childhood bedroom. Practical un-entitled Maureen, who does not come from wealth, immediately gets a job waiting tables.

In 1999, commodities trader Jason (Isaac W. Jay) and his wife Jessica (Jade Santana) are as hot for each other as they are for their thriving careers – he as a commodities trader, she in advertising – and for the money and status that they are enjoying. There is but one thing that could impede their progress toward becoming masters of the universe – at least in Jason’s mind - and that thing happens.

As their various lives proceed, the action hops between the three decades. The Hindenburg passes by en route to its fateful docking in New Jersey and Davia’s plans abroad risk scuttled by the rise of the Nazis in Europe. In the 70s, Deena gets a small role in a Broadway play while Mo lands an off-Broadway revue involving nudity. John Lennon, we learn, lives not far away. And as the millennium turns over, Jason and Jess bump up against circumstances that test the strength of their marriage. So socially , politically and individually, there’s a lot of chaos.

Butterfield pilots several of these characters in some unexpected directions, tossing in a twist here and there. As this happens, some of the men and women who were initially superficial and obnoxious prove to be dealing with heavier baggage than we initially realize.

BROWNSTONE is strongly acted.  Tiara’s Maureen is a bedrock of hard work and common sense. Spirito (doing her best Kate Hepburn) and Goodrich work some solid – and surprisingly complex - interplay as Davia and Steven. And Santana’s journey from smoking hot power wife to a woman with a new set of priorities is beautifully rendered. In the final scene, it falls to Jessica to meet a new character and thereby connect the historical threads between the three decades.

Munroe deserves significant kudos for his three-in-one set that places visual elements of three decades side by side by side. Director West – who is also the playwright’s husband – packages it all with plenty of finesse.

BROWNSTONE plays through February 28 at 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles,