Review: ALLERGIC TO WALNUTS at Skylight Theatre

Skylight Live presents a new series of new plays FREE, FUN, and LIVE online, bringing together some of LA's most talented writers, directors and actors for weekly presentations of uplifting works, written specifically for this medium. On August 13, I tuned to watch the premiere of "Allergic to Walnuts" written by Michelle Kholos Brooks and directed by Jenny Sullivan, which runs approximately 15 minutes with Q & A afterwards.

In it, three-time Emmy Award nominated actress and Academy Award nominated director JoBeth Williams stars with Emmy Award winning Broadway actor Joe Spano as an awkward couple who declare their affection for each other and, in the course of conversation on various topics, discover it's their first time being loved. But how do they know that for sure? Is love a logical equation or simply about nuts?

These two fine actors allow us inside their hearts and souls as well as the often, self-deprecating humor so vital to the angst of the play, as we get to know these two lonely souls discovering the way to let love into their lives.

"Allergic to Walnuts" takes place in a coffee shop (here two separate locations in the actors' homes) where an older couple's conversation begins with the man telling the woman "I love you."

This shocks and confuses the woman, who then asks him "how do you know/"

Thus begins their 15-minute chat about how to accept he really loves her, as she is uncertain exactly how he knows it to be true, since she admits to never have been loved before. Confessing she has always thought of herself as "different and strange" since she is allergic to walnuts, she then comes up with many reasons why no one has ever loved her. But when she realizes the look of utter dismay on his face, she asks, "Can I rewind and start over?"

But of course, as he admits, "this thing is live and not recorded," before going on answer her question about how does he know he really loves her?

At first, he reminds her that he brought her flowers to show his affection, to which she counters, "Well you are a florist, so I thought they were leftovers." Ouch.

When she asks him if he has been loved, he admits he cannot recall "a single person loving me either," believing his lack of money always makes him feel broke, though "I was never cheap." Then in a stroke of comic genius he admits, "Perhaps it bothers you that I am always flatulent?" No doubt if we could have heard the audience, laughs would have followed.

After much back-and-forth banter, these two mysterious creatures finally come to the realization that perhaps no one has loved either of them because they think alike in their self-doubt, which causes them to not think like others." "It's a fine theory," he admits, although confusion lives on his every facial expression.

Finally, she comes to the conclusion that "perhaps you have to think like another to be loved by someone else?"

His response: "Certainly makes sense as long as I am not pressured to do so." His face then lights up with the realization, "So then you do love me!"

She ponders it for a moment before admitting that she does. Silence and smiles ensue, after which both pick up their mugs and drink together to end the play.

Although written prior to the pandemic to be performed onstage, playwright Michelle Kholos Brooks is to be commended for her Zoom adaptation which works very well in this new format since the entire short play takes place with two people sitting at a table together, chatting while sipping tea. She admits her work is often inspired by her interest in watching people who usually don't get noticed when people are around. These two characters, she admitted in the Q&A session after the performance, came out of sitting and watching people in the New York Subway as others rushed by not noticing them.

When asked if not hearing the audience makes it tough to do a Zoom comedy performance when laughs are needed, Joe Spano reminded us that "you get used to it when you do film and TV without an audience." And the actors' talent for knowing the right place to leave a short bit of silence, as well as the skill of director Jenny Sullivan to allow her actors to "go with the flow" and trust their instincts, worked well during moments of silence which seemed totally appropriate and not a signaling of a missed cue.

Perhaps the goal of "Allergic to Walnuts" is to get all of us to stop worrying about our own perceived shortcomings and just love each other, which will allow being loved in return. It's a simplistic thought but certainly heartwarming.

Skylight Theatre Company re-imagines theatre for Summer 2020 by creating a new series during a time of social distancing with all shows performed live online, and later in archives. So if you missed this production or any others in the series, you can watch them and other new plays premiering every Thursday at 3pm at https://skylighttheatre.org/event/skylight-live/ Also on the site are selections by Skylight's resident-writers program, SkyLab, which is helmed by the Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Tony Award nominated playwright, Lee Blessing.

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Website: http://skylighttheatre.org

Zoom production photos by Shari Barrett

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