Review: A GUIDE TO MODERN POSSESSION at District Fringe

Dial or text 988 if you or someone you know are having suicidal thoughts. Act One of A Guide to Modern Possession by Caro Dubberly concludes with a suicide attempt. Inaugurating a new Fringe in an un-airconditioned "space" (a classroom at UDC with the acoustics of a soundproof room) makes for an inauspicious reconstitution of the late Capital Fringe.

And without knowing how many rehearsals the cast of 10 had in the room it is not possible to know whether or not Director Laley Lippard might or could have rectified the audibility problem in time for opening night. Except for one song, performed late in the staged reading by protagonist Cody, the fine singer Jayson R. Broadnax, the onstage microphones sit virtually un-used. An electric piano is amplified; the audience cannot hear many of the spoken lines. When the company sings, the audience hears more of the lines.

The 65 minute act (there is no act two) consists of scenes from the unhappy life of Cody, a would-be songwriter/performer with an insubstantial income and unhappy parents. Like the characters in Rent and Spring Awakening, Cody, housemate Anna (Sophia Early), and Cody's mother, Liza (Geocel Batista) express their grief and grievances most effectively in song. Dubberly's writing for the excellent singing ensemble has some eloquent musical moments as do Early and Broadnax in several duets.

But when Cody denounces Liza, who is dying of cancer, for not being sensitive enough to Cody's trauma and pronouns, it becomes difficult to remain concerned or involved.