BWW Reviews: Source Festival Premiere of THE WORD AND THE WASTELAND Is Nothing If Not Ambitious

Every June, curious Washington, DC area theatregoers can experience the work of emerging local and national playwrights at the Source Festival, organized by CulturalDC. Divided into three themes - this year it's Mistakes and Media, Love and Botany, and Science and Soulmates - the festival comprises 3 full-length plays, 18 ten-minute plays, and 3 artistic blind dates that each relate to one of the themes. Local playwright Timothy Guillot's The Word and the Wasteland, presented as the centerpiece of "Mistakes and Media," is but one of the full-length plays offered this year. It is a solid example of the kind of challenging work the festival offers and is definitely worthy of an audience and, potentially, a future life with some refinement.

In Guillot's play, we're initially met with a barrage of television broadcasts alerting the American people that a terrorist attack has, once again, taken place on American soil. Hundreds of concertgoers at Los Angeles' Disney Hall are now dead and the US Government - with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the lead - is hard at work to determine those responsible for the unspeakable act and bring them to justice. Katherine, or Kat as she is known (Sarah Ferris), is a young, green agent from Iowa who is ready to prove herself as worthy of her job and do what it takes to not only bring the man responsible to justice, but prevent any further related attack from occurring. She's paired with an older and more experienced agent, Richard (Greg Thompson). He has a few things on his plate and not so keen on working with his partner for various reasons. As one might imagine, interpersonal conflict emerges as the pair tries to figure out what happened, who did it, and prevent follow-on activity.

When they learn that Benjamin (Joshua Simon) - the man they think is responsible for the event - may have some affinity for the Bronx-based Elizabeth/Lizzie's poems (Tamieka Chavis), they bring her in to see if she can shed some light on who Benjamin is, what might drive him, and any future plans he or those he works with might have. Kat is keen to work outside of the lines to achieve the desired outcome in an efficient way and seeks to use Lizzie and all media assets at her and Lizzie's disposal to her advantage. Lizzie, who maintains a huge presence on YouTube, is at first apprehensive of her newfound role, but then obliges and settles into reading Benjamin's poems aloud on TV networks.

Meanwhile, television pundits and average American citizens weigh in on the event, Benjamin's works of art, Lizzie's motives for helping out the FBI, and speculate on when/where future attacks might occur. They vilify and redeem individuals at the same time, draw distinctions between those who commit deviant acts and find common ground between us all. The picture of who did what, why, and when is suddenly more complicated when put through the various media lenses and taken as a whole. A further question is how Woodrow (Zach Bopst, who also plays as a prison guard) fits into what happened and what might happen. Nothing is black and white.

Guillot's script is an excellent first cut at what might eventually be a powerful and impactful play about the role the media/social interaction play in national tragedies. The writing is stellar and he does well to cover multiple angles of the story in a more-or-less streamlined and logical, yet still creative, way. If I were to find some fault in his work - taking the plausibility of his story out of the equation and the degree to which he understands and (whether intentional or not) reflects how terrorist investigations are fundamentally accomplished within the US Government - it's that, as it is now, the scenario he offers would seem to work better on the screen than onstage. I'd point out that there are definite shades of serial-based investigatory stories within his work - the kind that you might see on network television - but he does well to add his own theatrical spin, particularly through the Lizzie character. An even more completely theatricalized and innovative way of telling the story might be desirable, especially if Guillot's intent is to color outside the lines a bit in terms of realistic terrorist investigations (media coverage portions aside) to make his larger point. At the very least, it might present more opportunities for many in the Washington, DC community with experience in these issues to look past any notable issues with realism and consider Guillot's play as simply a creative work by a talented playwright.

As the script is brought to life at Source under the direction of Joshua W. Kelley, technical elements are at a minimum as is usually the case with festival shows. This production, due to the emphasis on media coverage, probably has more technological components than most do, however. The videos, though at times excessive and prone to technical challenges (at least at the first performance), are integral to how Guillot tells the story and are a wise choice.

The production also features several strong acting moments, most notably Sarah Ferris who embodies truly the go-getter young agent. She excels at presenting a strong front and little by little lets us peak at what's beneath, which is an effective choice for the character. Simon is appropriately creepy as the accused terrorist. His undoubtedly strong physical acting skills serve him well and he's able to share 1000 words without uttering a word. Chavis also has several strong moments and exudes the passion necessary for her artsy character. Bopst, and especially Thompson, are prone to some campy acting choices that don't necessarily serve the piece very well, but there's nothing that's terribly, terribly wrong with either performance.

Overall, The Word and the Wasteland shows a lot of promise and I look forward to seeing where it might go next.

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours, including one intermission.

THE WORD AND THE WASTELAND has four more performances at Source - 1835 14 Street, NW in Washington, DC. It will be performed on June 13 at 4:00 PM, June 21 at 1:00 PM and 8:00 PM, and June 26 at 9:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased online or at the box office. For further information on the Source Festival and the other 23 works that are being presented from June 5-28, visit the Source Festival website.

Photo: Tamieka Chavis, Sarah Ferris, and Greg Thompson pictured; By C. Stanley Photography.