Review: Framed, Not Finished - EXHIBIT Lacks Theatricality at Curious Theatre

Curious Theatre Company's 27th season comes to a close with its presentation of a new work in its World Premiere, Exhibit, directed by Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon. Written and performed by Golden Globe winner Regina Taylor, the one-woman show introduces the audience to Iris, a somewhat established visual artist who agrees to meet with a representative of a museum that hopes to showcase Iris' work, though it comes with certain stipulations that amount to the erasure of the Black artist. Throughout their lunch meeting, Iris reminisces on moments and people from her past, predominantly from her childhood.

I'll be honest, I was rather displeased with the production. What is branded as a World Premiere play is, in reality, a glorified staged reading that feels more like a lecture. In her dual-position as both playwright and sole actor in the one-woman show, Taylor reads from the script for the entirety of the 90-minute one-act performance. It was unnerving to me that the person who wrote the words on the page would then stand at a lectern for the whole show and essentially deliver the lines back down toward the script instead of engaging with the audience. As is the case with any one-person show, it is also up to the performer to not only present the main character, but create definitive side characters. Taylor is not memorized enough with the material to meaningfully construct multiple characters.

Creatively, the only elements that stand out are the prop designs by Wayne Breyer and Katie Hopwood. Though, again, their work has lent itself to accent a dramatic reading and not a fully produced play. The costume design by Janice Benning Lacek does little to significantly elevate the character and instead gives the impression of an elementary school art teacher. More pointedly, seeing the scroll bar on the side of the screen as the slideshow operator moves between images is somewhat of an amateur oversight.

The show is not without its merits, however. There is, to some degree, meat on the bones. There are moments of wisdom baked into the piece such as learning about Iris' upbringing, her attending school during desegregation, and her reunification with an old friend. The work comes across almost like a memoir, but the given circumstances of the character and content of the show are not fleshed out enough to adequately convey the more impactful subject matter. For one thing, I don't think we ever actually learn the specific medium that makes Iris an artist. We also never learn how or why her passion for art blossomed nor how she came to find herself on the verge of being showcased in a museum. Essentially, there is a disconnect between her personal story and the larger themes throughout the play.