‘Spoon Lake Blues’ at the Hertz Theatre
Photo: Greg Mooney. Pictured: Jimi Kocina and Luke Robertson
And now for something completely different and wonderful, “Spoon Lake Blues,” in its world premiere at the Hertz Theatre.
Brothers Brady and Denis are about to lose their house, the one their grandfather built to start his family. The home is littered with beer cans, boxes and food wrappings and swarming with ants. The toilet doesn’t work and the front door is busted. To stop the bill collectors from seizing their home, the brothers burglarize the new homes that have turned this once dead-beat town by a lake into a summer vacation spot for the wealthy.
A mix of romance, comedy, hardship, and sex, the play is filled with twists, turns and laughs. Not since Sam Shepard’s “True West” do I remember such a good story with two brothers who act so dumb and dumber.
A good cast of actors turn this show into a one hour and forty minute wild ride of lunacy and laughs where the unexpected never ceases. A female police officer demands sex from big brother Denis; Caitlin, a black college coed, steals her father’s prized albums to help these “white-trash” brothers who earlier robbed her parents’ home, and college-dropout Brady exhumes his grandmother’s grave in hopes of finding out that he and Caitlin might be related.
Playwright Josh Tobiessen was a finalist for the Alliance Theatre’s Kendeda Award for best new playwright five years ago. Artistic Director Susan Booth told him then to continue to send her copies of future plays. Luckily for us, he did. It’s a must see.
”Spoon Lake Blues” runs through April 24 at the Hertz Theatre.
Cast: Veronika Duerr, Jimi Kocina, Lakisha Michelle May, Luke Robertson
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