Review: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION at MIGHTY ACORN PRODUCTIONS

If you have never been to an acting class, you may not know that they always seem to have these ridiculous exercises that are supposed to help you become “an actor.” Gibberish conversations, mirroring each other, counting to ten as a group, acting as one giant blob while making monster noises, playing slow-motion tag, and I could go on for days. I am pretty much convinced none of these things ever made anybody into a great actor, and I doubt Meryl Streep is lying on her floor pretending to be a mound of melting ice cream, but I suppose they do serve some purpose. These exercises make you less afraid to look stupid. They strip every shred of self-consciousness you ever had, and force you to do this in front of people you may know or have a crush on. This is the premise of CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION by Annie Baker, and it creates a world where actors can act out characters trying to learn to act through a six-week course at a community center. It’s meta to the max! Mighty Acorn Productions has chosen this piece this year for one of their equity showcases, and it runs through September 7th in the upstairs theater of Spring Street Studios (where Cone Man Running has been operating). 

What I love most about Mighty Acorn Productions is that they gather some of the best actors in Houston and put them in a play to display just how good they really are. The ensemble for this show is mind-blowing, including founder and stage veteran Tracy Ahern, current “it girl” actress Callina Anderson, the well-regarded Foster Davis, impressive newcomer Anna Flynn, and one of Houston’s best actors, Christian Tannous. And truly, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION is a show that gives these thespians a chance to work as an ensemble, with each of them having complicated relationships with every single other person on stage. That is the joy of this production. You watch as each person has a moment where their relationship to another person changes in a heartbeat. They may be doing silly exercises, but these become, by turns, competitive, encouraging, hurtful, romantic, and emotionally explosive. The achievement here is this cast brings this all to life, so honestly, none of them feel like they are acting anything, except when they are acting as the character in the exercise (it’s a neat twist). There were these immaculate moments when I could see a character in the show change how they feel about another person while they were doing a silly play-type thing. It’s genius in that regard! 

Rarely have I seen a show where the actors are all evenly matched and deliver as a chorus of fully realized people. Tracy Ahern plays Marty, the well-intentioned instructor who makes the mistake of putting her husband in the workshop (Foster Davis). We have the experienced actress named Theresa, who seems to be a man magnet with her hooping skills and sparkly eyes (Callina Anderson). We have the recently divorced Schultz, who is lonely and skeptical of what this experience will bring (Christian Tannous). And finally, there is the 17-year-old Lauren, who just wants to actually act rather than play these silly-ass games all summer (Anna Flynn).

In regard to the showcase aspect, this is a rare chance to see Callina Anderson veer into romantic comedy territory. She’s usually in pretty heavy dramatic pieces, so it's nice to see her fun and flirty here. Tracy Ahern is so delightful as the slightly kooky Marty, and she plays all of the small internal realization beats so damn well. Foster Davis gets to drop his usual machismo onstage and offers a cool and casually sexy dad with a disdain for footwear who seems to crave attention still. Christian Tannous brings himself to his role the most out of this troop, but it works since his Schultz ends up being so raw and lovable. And Anna Flynn is such a powerhouse as the petulant teen; it’s a wonderfully realized performance. The real magic is watching them all interact. If acting is listening or reacting, these five have master's degrees in performance. At any moment, you can look around the room and see a mini-play happening on each face that is up there, no matter who is talking. 

Director David Kenner plays for truth, and there is not much to get in its way. We have a simple set of a studio in a community center, lights that kind of just are on or off, and four characters in plain street clothes. This isn’t a fanciful or elaborate production. But it does have a professional sheen to it, and still feels very thought-out and purposeful. The space (designed by Mark Lewis) is intensely intimate, so the audience can see and feel every flinch or smile. You couldn’t do this sort of thing in a huge cavernous theater, so this is a smart approach. The director fills the space well and keeps the room constantly buzzing as the actors even do dialogue while the scenes shift. The ball is always in the air, and Kenner never lets it drop. 

CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION will probably hit hardest with those of us who took drama classes at some point, and were subjected to this uniquely silly torture that acting teachers come up with just to knock us all down a few pegs. I imagine those lucky enough to have evaded that will be giggling at the fate they dodged. But what seems like simple exercises become loaded and dangerous, manipulative games when people seek to wound or wake up. There is the drama here, and this cast certainly knows how to bring that to life. It’s a fascinating show about how something so simple and so silly can change our lives. Maybe that is the power of art, even in a small town community center.