Review: THE MINUTES at Tower Grove Abbey

Bureaucracy, innuendo, gossip, and politics collide in The Minutes, the penultimate production in Stray Dog Theatre’s current season. Set during a city council meeting in Big Cherry, a sleepy hamlet in small-town America, Tracy Letts’ play focuses on the danger of perpetuating myths and accepting false histories because they are uncomfortable.

The story revolves around Mr. Peel, a councilman who has returned from a funeral to resume his duties on the council. At first glance, the meeting agenda seems inconsequential. There’s the issue of what to do with some lost bikes, parking spots for an older councilman, and the issue of making a beloved town fountain more ADA-friendly.

There is also a lively discourse on how to make the annual town festival more enticing after sagging attendance. One proposal is for a “Lincoln Smackdown,” which would feature an MMA fighter dressed as Abraham Lincoln taking on any challengers in a steel cage.

As the meeting progresses, there is a lingering sense of uneasiness as Mr. Peel repeatedly inquires about the fate of Mr. Carp, an absent councilman who was apparently removed in his absence. Every request for details finds him stonewalled.

From here, things go from droll to drama pretty quickly as Peel learns there are no minutes from the previous meeting. Furthermore,  Mayor Superba is purposely coy about the proceedings of the previous meeting. Frustrated by the lack of information and the blatant deception being fed to him, he continues to search for the truth.

As the play unfolds, tensions rise, secrets are revealed, and corruption and ethical murkiness are exposed in a flurry of absurdism and surrealism. The answers, as Mr. Peel soon discovers, are in the minutes.

Directed by Justin Been, The Minutes is a compelling production whose themes of erasing common history, suppressing information, and accepting injustice resonate loudly in contemporary times. Presented with no intermission, his production piles on the tension and underscores the absurd as it examines the dangers of political complicity. Been keeps the angst coming in waves, leaving the audience uncomfortable and overwhelmed as they share in Mr. Peel’s exasperation to learn the truth.

The ensemble is led by Nick Freed, whose debut with the company is memorable. As Mr. Peel he performs the role of a character who is always on uneasy footing. Brilliantly straddling the line of perturbed and disturbed, his turn here is powerful.

Everyone who has worked with an overly perky and frustratingly cheerful coworker can relate to Rachel Hanks’ Ms. Johnson. Playing the irritatingly annoying council clerk with great aplomb, she is the gateway to Peel’s inquiries. The annoying voice and irritatingly peppy demeanor that Hanks gives her character helps maneuver the audience’s feelings of uneasiness.

Portraying Mr. Assalione, the biggest jerk on the Big Cherry council, is not easy. Yet Jonathen Hey does his job with panache. Utterly despicable and completely unlikable, he relishes his bad guy role. While Hey’s performance is, at times, a bit over the top, it is delightful to watch him chew up scenery.

Will Shaw adds some crochety fun to The Minutes as Mr. Oldfield. His gruff and grumpy company debutp rovides many of the show’s biggest laughs.

Despite only appearing briefly in the latter half of the production, Stephen Petrick provides an unwavering moral compass as Mr. Carp. He does some fine acting here as a man pursuing the truth and horrified by what he discovers.

Tense, terse, and at times testy, The Minutes is almost two plays in one.  While the first half gives off the vibe of a comedic tale of small-town bureaucracy, the second half is a darker and more cynical examination of the erosion of power structures.

Under Been’s skillful hand, both of these aspects coalesce seamlessly, resulting in a poignant and contemplative production whose themes of politics, erasure, and history are presented via a talented ensemble.