Review: Hannah Benitez's Hilarious FOR CLOSURE at freeFall

In our tightknit theatre community, word of mouth matters most. Local shows live and breathe on it. Some shows can sell themselves—especially big musicals with falling chandeliers or anti-Nazi von Trapp singers. But mostly our local theatres rely on people spreading the word, especially if it's an unknown entity.  And the only way that they can tell their friends and neighbors about a new play is if it’s either off-the-charts moving or funny.  (If they don’t like it much or are tepid towards it, they probably won’t say a word, which is the kiss of death to any show.) 

And this is obviously the case with FOR CLOSURE, the premiere of Hannah Benitez’s hilarious only-in-Florida play at freeFall.  Word of mouth must have gone through the roof with this one.  On the night I saw it--the final Friday performance--the nearly packed house was in spasms of stitches, loud raucous laughter rarely heard of late—all of the guffaws well-earned.  That’s when I knew exactly why audiences have been coming in droves to this particular play; It’s beyond hysterical.  It’s so funny, with the audiences literally screaming with laughter, that you worry that some of the older members might soil themselves if they’re not too careful.

“This is my favorite play yet!” I overheard the person behind me say.  She was still laughing at the shenanigans of the cray-cray characters she had just spent a couple of hours with. 

FOR CLOSURE is both a love letter and a middle finger to our dearly beloved but frustratingly flawed Sunshine State. Set in the fictional town of Gulfpalm near the Tampa Bay area, it deals with real estate problems, LGBTQ issues, striking strippers, right wing politicians who flex their power after such a close election (a victory by a mere twelve votes), and the cutting of the arts (the latter smacking the zeitgeist right on the bullseye).  It’s a tilt-a-whirl of a play, far-fetched and farcical, with something to tickle you and rightly annoy you about our state. 

It's also one of the funniest two hours you are likely to spend at the theatre.

FOR CLOSURE centers on realtors Amanda and Raven, a lesbian couple whose house can’t keep tenants due to it being haunted.  When the psychic Camille Chevalier Milk is called in, followed by a dinner with homophobic politician Michael Davenport (who has accidentally consumed numerous “medicinal” cookies), all bets are off.  It’s a show that starts slow and then moment by moment, piece by puzzling piece, it becomes a barreling locomotive that veers not only off course but into areas you didn’t realize we would venture in.  There’s even a sort of dues ex machina to throw you into a tailspin and yet answer so many questions.

Ms. Benitez is a terrific writer who has scribed a dynamite of a script, particularly its use of zingy one-liners and well-drawn characters.  Some of the lines are uproarious: “Who shows up seven minutes early to a dinner?  FASCISTS!”  Or: “Who doesn’t like Thai?  Bigots and people allergic to peanuts!”

But FOR CLOSURE is also not perfect.  It’s structurally a mess, but it’s a wonderful mess that winds up working, like eating the most delicious cake with too much gooey icing. (And trust me, audiences are eating it up!)  But Act 2 sometimes comes across as too silly and out of whack that some of the characters are unrecognizable from where we left them in Act 1.  Yes, it’s farce, and most of the gags are ingeniously set up, but some don’t land and the audience has to stretch its imagination quite a bit.

At its most basic level, FOR CLOSURE is not unlike a daring “Three’s Company” episode set in a Bizarro World, where Chrissy and Janet are a lesbian couple and Jack is a screaming queen who looks like Rip Taylor on mephedrone.

But underneath it all, beneath the crazy characters and over-the-top situation, on the far-right back burner, there is a seriousness to FOR CLOSURE: Florida is a train wreck in action and we either laugh at the shitshow it has become or, worse, sit in the corner eating nothing but Twinkies, waiting in vain for the right wing zealots to leave office (don’t hold your breath).  In this instance, performing the play here and now, FOR CLOSURE has become an act of bravery—calling the state out using the broadest of strokes possible, using laughter to say the obvious in the most tough-loving of ways: WE ARE BATSHIT CRAZY HERE!

The cast is a dream, with one of the roles written specifically for one of our most popular local actors.

Renata Eastlick as Raven is the show’s anchor, the closest cast member to resemble a sane person, even though she is called “the disturbed one” early on.  Raven’s companion, Amanda, is played to the hilt by Sara DelBeato, who gets to go all in when it comes to madness of Act 2.  Both Ms. Eastlick and Ms. DelBeato are the heart and soul of For Closure, and we root for them, laughing the entire time.

Two actors play a plethora of roles and do so swimmingly.  Glenn Giron gets his moment to shine as wannabe hip-hopper Rizzy Boi, who says “whoop whoop” so often that he reminded me of a punk Fritz Feld popping his mouth (he even wears a shirt with the words “Whoop Whoop” on it). He also portrays the multi-muscular super, Rick, and the right wing politico, a diminutive DeSantis named Michael Davenport (“the Stalin of Central Florida”).  Although Mr. Giron’s take on the right-winger unknowingly getting stoned is quite funny, it doesn’t hold a candle to Richard Jenkins’ FBI agent in a similar situation in the 1996 Ben Stiller movie, Flirting with Disaster.    

Kelly Pekar once again shows why she is one of the best actresses to ever appear on our local stages.  She plays four different roles here, each one with an authenticity and quirk of their own.  Her Ms. Fleringer reminded me of Emma Thompson’s Sybill Trelawney in the Harry Potter films. She resembles an astronaut’s wife as Mr. Davenport’s spouse (although her attitude is closer to Casey DeSantis).  Her perky stripper baby mama, Bobbi Gooshay (“the Norma Rae of strippers” who works at the Clam Hut), is one of the play’s spotlight performances.   

Francine Wolf rounds out the cast in a surprise turn.

And then there’s Matthew McGee as the flamboyant psychic Camille Chevalier Milk, a part written specifically for him.

Donning tropical attire and an elder Rod Stewart wig, Mr. McGee’s creation sparks the show to new heights.  He garnered applause upon his entrance, and then the character grows zanier and zanier into Act 2, and no one does a slow burn or a double take better than Mr. McGee. It’s a comic tour de force, especially when he’s impersonating a beer-guzzling he-man on a motorized wheelchair (rule of thumb: Matt McGee + motorized wheelchair = comic gold).  He resembles Rip Taylor in the role of Poltergeist’s Tangina, with a spray-tanned face that looks more Red Delicious apple red instead of DJT orange; pale circles surround his eyes and he cuts quite a memorable figure. It’s also one of the most hilarious performances that you will experience in your lifetime.   

The sets via Hansen Scenic is spectacular, and Trenton Szabo’s lighting is superb (love the realistic Florida sky and fence projected outside the window; it looks uncannily real).  There is even one set change to Michael Amos’ cello and Michael Raabe’s music that earned laughs and applause; it’s fun when even the set change is a hoot (Larry Alexander gets a shout out for being one dynamic set-mover).    

All of this is made possible due to master director, Eric Davis, who shows the same strengths with comedy as he has shown in more serious work.  And as Artistic Director of freeFall, he gets special kudos for choosing an unknown quantity like FOR CLOSURE and taking a chance with it.  And judging from its world premiere and the audiences’ response to it, it’s a risk that has more than paid off.

FOR CLOSURE is set to be produced in both Florida and other states.  I am most interested in how audiences outside of Florida will react to Ms. Benitez’s humor that’s so specific. Will even the mention of “Spring Hill” get laughs like it did when I saw the show?   If it receives even half of the laughs gifted from the hometown audiences, then FOR CLOSURE should be a big hit wherever and whenever it plays. Rarely has theatre been this much fun!

FOR CLOSURE closes its run at freeFall on May 11, 2025.

Photo Credit: Thee Photo Ninja.