Review: THINGS WITH FRIENDS at American Blues Theater

Kristoffer Diaz’s THINGS WITH FRIENDS is one extremely chaotic, messy dinner party. This world premiere introduces a variety of different flavors that come together for an undercooked meal. Directed by Dexter Bullard, THINGS WITH FRIENDS introduces us to dinner party hosts Adele (Audrey Billings) and Burt (Casey Campbell) who live comfortably on the 27th floor of a cushy Manhattan apartment. The twist? Their fabulous apartment (gorgeously designed by Grant Sabin, by the way) overlooks the recently collapsed George Washington Bridge. Adele often looks out worriedly at the bridge and panics at the prospect of rain. She also frets over the forthcoming arrival of the couple’s slick friends Vy (Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel) and Chabby (Jon Hudson Odom). The play implies they’re close friends, but there’s clearly friction between the couples — especially once Chabby reveals a rather unorthodox proposal in the wake of NYC’s recent climate change disasters.

Listed in the program as NYC, Nate Santana functions as a narrator/playwright proxy. He charmingly welcomes audiences to the play and underscores the action with Brechtian-style narration. While Santana is a charming performer and his narrator lines hint at some mysterious disaster to come, Diaz doesn’t justify the role’s presence in his text. Likewise, THINGS WITH FRIENDS spends much of its run-time building a sense of tension and foreboding. The play’s world building and climax don’t justify this hour-plus of limbo time. The biggest mystery of the play was trying to figure out what exactly was happening, and then I wasn’t all that interested when the secret was revealed.

That’s not to say the actors aren’t game. Billings, Campbell, Gonzalez-Cadel, and Odom nail the rapport of long-time friends, who also probably hate each other’s guts. Maya Lou Hlava also injects some fresh and vibrant energy about three-fourths of the way in as Chabby and Vy’s 18-year-old daughter, Joony. The actors all have a great sense of supercharged energy about them, even though the characters on the page are little more than archetypes.

In the program, Diaz states he wanted THINGS WITH FRIENDS to be a riff on the proverbial dinner party play, and it wasn’t meant to expressly be a play about climate change. Ultimately, I was left perplexed. The play seemed to throw spaghetti at the wall — trying different presentational styles and briefly introducing different themes and plot points, only to land at a bizarre and underwhelming climax. I’ve seen many dinner party plays in my time as a critic, and this one wouldn’t make me come back for a second helping. 

THINGS WITH FRIENDS runs through October 5 at American Blues Theater, 5627 North Lincoln Avenue. Tickets are $39.50 - $49.50. 

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