WHAT: Collected Stories
WHERE: New Hampshire Theatre Project
BLURB: A truly absorbing, moving story
HIGH POINT: Incredible performances
Here's a short and sweet take on Collected Stories, a summary in two statements. The script is scrumptious. The performances are all that and then some.
This story about a relationship between a mentor and mentee is intelligent and thoroughly engrossing and about as smart as they come.
Best of all, the two women portray their characters brilliantly.
Author and Professor Ruth Steiner (Genevieve Aichele) is meeting with a new student in her home, her sometime office. For student Lisa Morrison (Amy Desrosiers), it's a momentous occasion, meeting her literary hero.
She eventually becomes Ruth's assistant, and over time her dear friend and protege. The relationship around literature continues, Ruth still the mentor, but together they just explore one another's lives, as friends do - the profound and mundane.
When Lisa's collection of short stories is published, making her the young star du jour, the dynamics of their relationship shifts slightly, but the two successfully navigate the change.
That peace is challenged when Lisa's first novel creates a deeper rift and a moral dilemma that threatens the friendship.
Both Aichele and Desrosiers bring truth to their roles. Their characterizations are rich, immediate, and smartly nuanced. Both their personal and mutual arcs feel authentic. They bring to life two, independent, realized individuals.
Aichele's Ruth is her best performance to date - Lisa a true, sure, wise and learned woman that radiates presence. It's a beautiful performance.
Desrosiers' Lisa is perfection. What a hell of an actress. It's an impeccable and rich performance, a real pleasure to experience.
Director Monique Peaslee Foote's bead on her characters is flawless. Her women are clear; their development, reactions, and movement are flawless.
Foote is judicious with moments of emphasis, doling out just the right inflection in crucial places that later tie up the tale. The supporting arts are just that, Sean Robinson's set, Brennan Donell's lighting, and Joshua Goldberg's sound design.
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