Early arrivals to the McGinn/Cazale for Second Stage's Theatre Uptown production of Animals Out Of Paper can fill up their spare minutes by folding up a creation or two with the free origami paper made available in the lobby. Or, if you're like me, just admire the pieces already on display.
There's also plenty to admire once you're inside the auditorium. Rajiv Joseph's subtle exploration of the limits of artistic healing lying beneath a romantic comedy (and quite a funny one at that) is given a textured and very well acted mounting by director Giovanna Sardelli that glides steadily past some of the new work's trouble spots (some believability issues and a bit of an unsatisfactory ending) to charm and inspire.
Acclaimed origami artist Ilana (Kellie Overbey), living in her studio while in the midst of a divorce and heartbroken by presumed death of her lost three-legged lost dog, receives a surprise visit from Andy (Jeremy Shamos), treasurer of American Origami. The shy Jeremy has developed a crush on Ilana from reading her book, the second-best seller ever about origami which, along with folding patterns, contains short personal essays. A high school calculus teacher, Andy has come to ask her to consider mentoring his student, Suresh (Utkarsh Ambudkar), a troubled 17-year-old with an extraordinary talent for the art. ("Suresh sees folds before they happen.")
Though Ilana is too busy getting her life in order and trying to design folding patterns for a "mesh heart sleeve," a medical device used to treat congestive heart failure by unfolding in the body and wrapping around the heart, she reconsiders her reluctance to mentor Suresh after reading a book Andy accidentally leaves in her studio. It's a list he keeps of blessings in his life. Thousands of them. Touched by his sensitivity, the two start dating.
Ilana's tense relationship with the hip-hop loving Suresh (costume designer Amy Clark has some good fun with him), a brilliant, but undisciplined improviser whose only serious side comes out when taking care of his feeble father after the recent death of his mother, contrasts with the sweet and thoughtful way she's treated by nice guy Andy. See enough romantic comedies and you'll know where this is going, but Joseph's story cleverly takes us to one or two unexpected places.
The cast is just terrific, particularly Shamos who adds another distinctive portrayal to his growing list of impressive New York performances. You can barely see how his genial, always pleasant Andy is crumbling inside as he faces disappointment from the two people he loved the most. Overbey's Ilana, a woman who carefully plans every fold in advance, masks a continual struggle to achieve the same kind of order in her life. Ambudkar is particularly effective in a simple, but emotional scene where the young artist first experiences the way others respond to what he creates.
Also terrific is Beowulf Borritt's set, primarily used to depict Ilana's messy studio. Exposed brick grows into walls made of large sheets of hanging paper and ominously hanging in the middle of the room is an enormous origami hawk. The cast performs set changes in character, especially fun when Ambudkar's Suresh, jauntily struts the stage to clean up the extreme clutter of Ilana's studio. The clutter inside the three characters is another story.
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