When identifying oneself as an American, the act of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance—hand
over heart, in a room crowded with fellow countrymen and women—is right up there with
baseball and apple pie. It’s a display of patriotism, tradition, and unity.
But it’s
hardly the only ritual that binds us. Milling around the refreshment table before
a public meeting, peeling back tinfoiled trays of homemade brownies and exchanging
pleasantries with neighbors; nodding in sympathetic encouragement as a nervous teen
trips through her first public presentation; confirming that those seated on either
side of you are standing to sing the official town song with a nonchalant glance before
rising yourself—these are among the most familiar of motions to go through as a community
and a subtle but solid piece of what makes us who we are. And they’re all a part of
Beertown, now playing in Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s Rehearsal Hall. The other pieces,
as it turns out, are pretty much up to us. Or at least they are in dog & pony dc’s
refreshing theatrical experience, returning to DC for a limited Capital Fringe Festival
engagement after last year’s Helen Hayes-nominated debut run.
Should we honor our collective memory with the rusty film projector from the shuttered
local movie house or the antique gun used in a duel between our town’s founding families?
That’s the kind of question the interactive show wants the audience to weigh in on
in a performance format that’s part Choose Your Own Adventure, part kooky murder-mystery
dinner party—only complex and thought-provoking. The inventive company incorporates
their signature “audience integration” tactics before you even get to the theater.
Attendees are asked via e-mail to bring a dessert to share to kick off the 20th Quinquennial
Beertown Time Capsule Celebration that makes up the performance. And when you’ve enjoyed
an oatmeal cookie while chatting with the mayor about his daughter’s first Time Capsule
Day presentation, there’s an immediate connection. So by the time the proceedings
get underway and the residents of Beertown, an anonymous Anytown, USA, have gathered
for their official tradition of unearthing the town time capsule every five years
and voting on which artifacts to keep and which to remove, you’re already invested.
The faux Town Hall meeting remains just cheeky enough to avoid being corny, and thanks
to a committed cast of relatable characters, you’ll feel right at home as an honorary
Beertonian for the evening.
As Michael Soch, the proud mayor of Beertown presiding over the pomp and circumstance
of the time capsule ceremony,
Joshua Drew has mastered the not-quite-genuine grin of a local politician and volleys back and
forth with cast and audience members alike with sickening charm.
Rachel Grossman (founding member of dog & pony dc and the show’s director) seems an unlikely choice
to play his teenage daughter at first, but her self-conscious mannerisms and mortified
eye rolls are just right. Scattered throughout the intimate space, average Beertonians
like Karin Oppenheim (fellow dog & pony founding member
Wyckham Avery) offer performances engaging enough to sway votes, and ombudsman Edwin McFarlan (a
hilariously deadpan
J. Argyl Plath) steals a few scenes with his straight-faced improvisations.
Skating on its novel structure and endearing attention to detail in the first act,
the performance really gets to the fun stuff after adjourning for intermission. The
floor is opened to both audience members and actors to debate and vote on the artifacts
that best represent Beertown’s collective history for five years to come. It’s a simple
task, echoing the type of meaningful civic discourse that takes place in city halls
and rec centers across the country every day, and yet, interspersed with dramatic
vignettes, it’s also able to slyly raise important questions about the human tendency
to rewrite history, worship tradition, and long for the good old days that probably
weren’t as idyllic as you remember them. At times, the exercise feels almost too much
like a stuffy town hall gathering: Beertonians actual and honorary hogging the floor
to hear themselves talk, wading through a thick swamp of overblown bureaucracy to
get answers, abiding by strict and sometimes strange procedures set forth by earlier
generations without question. The balance seems askew in a few scenes that drag on,
but for the most part the authenticity pays off.
In a time and political climate in which discourse has spiraled far beyond civil,
participating in a passionate, community-centric discussion of who we are and who
we want to be, imaginary or not, is surprisingly comforting. Not to mention entertaining.
Beertown
is at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company as part of the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival through
July 22. The show will also be performanced at Round House Theatre Silver Spring July
28. Running time is about two hours and ten minutes (it varies with each show). Tickets
($15 to $32) are available via the company’s website.
