The cast of John Doe don't know they're in a play about the effects and impacts of death on survivors; they're all in “just keep living” mode, and, thanks to Angelle Whavers (wise playwright), their experiences form a kind of map of getting through stuff. Her play isn't quite Act III of Our Town, but loss of people is humanity's shared event, and the characters who most need some normalization do evolve during the uninterrupted 90 minutes of this ultimately comforting play.
Zia (Ariana Caldwell) has to evolve the farthest. She's trying her best to get past the death of her beloved brother, moving away from parental and therapist support in order to be closer to the cemetery so that she can visit his grave more often. That works well, but nothing else does—she feels anxious just buying a cup of coffee. Caldwell portrays Zia's panic attacks as if they were graded like fires. Late in the play, when she has a five-alarmer at the City Hall of Records, Jenny the Receptionist (the excellent Patricia Williams Dugueye, who plays two other characters) knows how to guide her back to stability—Whavers has written a powerful scene which Caldwell and Dugueye amplify brilliantly.
Zia's neighbors also support her as they get to know her; Alicia Grace warmly plays Talisha, the barista of Zia's nearby coffee shop, and Bianca Lipford's Nadia seems to have superhero strength (she conquers doorknobs!) until she has to share her vulnerable side. In the title role, Mitchell Alexander makes a great scene partner, mostly for Zia, but director Josh Sticklin might have helped him find ease and an inner life when he has to speak alone, which he often does.
Jeremy Bennett's projection designs are some of the best ever. The trees in the cemetery sway, the brick walls of the coffee shop appear three-dimensional (please notice the punny name of the coffee shop which connects it to another part of the setting; spoiler: see photo), and the wallpaper in Zia's apartment looks like wallpaper. (duh) But it isn't: it's just color and light, as Seurat might sing. And about color and light, John Doe is never without his green one (Lighting Design by Niya John); glad to know they're still teaching “use only for death” in the gel color portion of Stage Lighting 101.
Keegan Theatre @ 1742 Church St. NW is a short walk from the Q Street exit of the Dupont Circle Metro station. The pedestrian route has been well-shovelled, but there is nowhere to put a car—that's where all the snow is piled up. It's worth the walk to stop thinking about politics for 90 minutes and think about what's really important—life and its partner, death. Whavers, Sticklin, and the company at Keegan have it surrounded.
(Photo L to R Ariana Caldwell, Alicia Grace, Mitchell Alexander, and Bianca Lipford by Cameron Whitman)
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