Review: BREAKFALLS BY GINA STEVENSEN at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center

Vermont Stage is presenting a world premiere of Breakfalls by local playwright Gina Stevensen, now playing at Main Street Performing Arts Center. Breakfalls tells the story of a group of karate students and their instructor at a struggling martial arts studio. Their intense personal motivations to gain self-defense skills provide a backdrop for stunning revelations about their pasts, and eventually, shared awakenings in a moment of crisis. The play features lots of physical action as well as beautiful martial arts jumps and vigorous one-on-one combat practice.

Described as a “meditation on vulnerability and our innate desire for refuge and belonging” this world premiere of an original work invites us into the world of a tough martial arts instructor and the dojo studio where her students learn to harness the energy of their inner turmoil and shape it into detailed patterns of movement.

The play opens with newbie karate student Charlie (played by Alex S. Hudson) accidentally hurting another student in combat practice. This quickly results in effusive apologies and embarrassment, and causes them to plan to quit the class. The injured student, Sean (Quinn Post Rol) is indignant, but after karate instructor, Martha (Sarah Mell) helps Sean get some perspective on the incident, Sean accepts Charlie’s apology, and the class moves on. Charlie continues to apologize until her numerous repetitions of “I’m sorry” are disparaged by an advanced student, Summer (Chrissy Rose) who later encourages Charlie to stay in the class. There’s chemistry between the two women karate students and a relationship grows. In subsequent classes, Summer’s resolve that her non-binary identity be recognized by another student, Joe, (Victor Toman) results in confusion and a clash of cultures that Martha helps to resolve with her steady counseling and patience.

The play centers on relationships that develop between the students as they practice the karate patterns. The cast delivers excellent and often humorous performances that invite the audience to become attached to each individual’s journey through the play. Alex Hudson as Charlie embodies sincerity and sizzle as a woman who has been driven away from New York City and upon returning to Vermont, reclaims her strength and finds romance in the dojo. As Summer, Chrissy Rose adroitly portrays how their hard edges helps them to keep their distance from others; and then eventually, their hesitant response to Charlie’s invitation to relationship. Quinn Post Rol’s portrayal of Sean, a student struggling to contain violent impulses, has depth and authenticity. Victor Toman’s character Joe is the odd man out, and he is as poignantly human as he is awkward in the karate studio. As Martha, the venerated instructor, Sarah Mell compellingly delivers the formidable presence and authority that makes the dojo a safe space for students.

Delanté Keys' direction is effective in keeping up the momentum of the play, which is a significant achievement given the authentic simplicity of Tenzin Chophel’s set design and single location for the action of the play. The staging of sections in-between the dojo scenes suggest experiences of inner upheaval and stress that is only hinted in previous scenes, and the scenes are enhanced by mesmeric lighting design by Jamien Forrest. Also contributing to these abstract intervals is sound design by Chris Hale-Sills, whose essential work is evident in rendering the crisis near the end of the play.

Through her portrayal of adept martial arts practitioners living in a world rift with violence, playwright Gina Stevensen has created a context for asking engaging questions about individual empowerment. In a fascinating exchange about the usefulness of martial arts in a gun-toting society, the crux of despair and doubt looms for a moment over the group. The group quickly shifts back to the reality of their shared experience of embodied physical strength and the sense of refuge they have found in their dojo community. Stevensen says “In martial arts, a breakfall is a way to train your body to protect itself when you fall down. And that’s what this play is about: how we help each other fall safely.”

Photo credit Lindsay Raymondjack. From left: Victor Toman, Chrissy Rose, Sarah Mell, Quinn Post Rol, and Alex S. Hudson.

Breakfalls runs March 20th through April 7th, Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm. For tickets and information visit www.vermontstage.org or 802-862-1497.

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