Review: WAVE AFTER WAVE at Actors Theatre Of Louisville

Throughout the last handful of years, myself and many others have lamented for Actors Theatre in the days of old: a full season of multi-week running shows, holiday classics like Dracula and A Christmas Carol, and of course the Humana Festival. After weathering COVID-19, leadership changes, and restructuring within the organization, Actors Theatre of Louisville is due for a grand comeback. With their latest world premiere Wave After Wave, and leadership by artistic director Amelia Acosta Powell, I believe we are on the precipice of that comeback.

Wave After Wave is a world premiere play written by Benjamin Benne. It follows two men (who are cousins) from birth to death… literally. Over 90 minutes the audience watches their entire lives and stories unfold, often intertwining when they meet on the beach they’ve been coming to their whole lives. Benne’s script is very promising; it plays with interesting and very big bold ideas, and manages to do that effectively about 90% of the time. Some of it comes off a little heady and self important, however the whole of the product is very much worthwhile as it tackles subjects such as the BIPOC experience in America, cancer, class dynamics, coming out in the early 2000s, and many more. The script is very ambitious and ultimately succeeds, helped in part by direction from Amelia Acosta Powell.

Powell’s direction is inventive in its complex simplicity. While that may sound like an oxymoron, it’s really a wonder how she can do so much with so little. The set consists of a bench, two rocks, and some blue curtains to symbolize waves, and as for props… there aren’t any. With this limited arsenal, unlimited possibilities are born as we follow Sean (Fernando Gonzalez) and Nathanael (Abraham Makany) tell the story of their friendship and lives.

Gonzalez does a phenomenal job with Sean. He brings layers and depth to a character who starts as a bully, but ultimately is humbled. He brings great physicality to the show, and lands many laughs — and just as many gasps — as he paints Sean’s complicated and rich history. Makany as Nathanael is every part Gonzalez’s equal. He starts as the bullied but ultimately comes into his own. He navigates the heartbreaking realities of loss as well as the struggle of being working class. Both of these performances go hand in hand, and it’s very clear early on that they work off of each other beautifully to create a detailed and specific dynamic that the audience easily invested in.

I must also shout out Dani Clifford’s lighting design and Phillips Allgeier’s Media design. I cannot express enough just how much their contributions add to the visual flare of the show, it’s really fine work that stuck out in the most wonderful ways.

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