Theater Review: Loving “The Aliens”

Review: The Aliens by Annie Baker. Produced by White Rabbits, Inc. Directed by Benjamin McFadden and Lindsay Welliver. Set/Props Design by Robin Macartney. Lighting Design by Sumer “Dean” Munroe. Costume Design by Meaghan Darling. Sound Design by Nik Doner. With Danny Jones, Nik Doner, Conor Craggan. Onstage at Seattle Open Arts Place from May 2nd to May 16th. Tickets at https://soap.thundertix.com/events/262020

I’m a big fan of playwright Annie Baker and her quirky, odd little plays with strange but realistic characters who engage in conversations full of awkward silences, and repetitions, and grand revelations, and banal realities. They’re usually about people trying to connect…or, trying to figure out HOW to connect, to one another and the world they live in. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail but it’s always interesting to see them try. And, Baker isn’t afraid to explore the lives of all sorts of people and how they interact. In Circle Mirror Transformation, it’s an adult extension class with a room full of people of various ages; in John, a young married couple copes with their problematic relationship in an eery guesthouse run by a doll obsessed older woman and her blind friend. The Flick centers on very young adults working in a rundown small town cinema in Vermont and in THE ALIENS, it’s a three hander with two 30something slackers trying to impart all their worldly wisdom to a 16 year old boy working in the coffee shop they hang out at…but not in.

All four of those plays have had successful productions in Seattle, with The Aliens currently onstage at Seattle Open Arts Place, that little storefront theater space up at 18th and Union on the top of Capitol Hill that has had several different names over the years. It’s produced by White Rabbit’s Inc the theater production company started by actor Nik Doner who stars here as one of the two 30ish dropouts, KJ, who has returned to his small Vermont hometown to live with his mom after actually dropping out of college years before. KJ spends most of his time getting high (he prefers shrooms; booze is NOT a good option for him) and hanging out with his best/only friend Jasper, who has his own issues including an ex-girlfriend he’s having a hard time of forgetting, and struggling to finish his novel.

KJ and Jasper prefer to hang out BEHIND the coffee shop, sitting in what is supposed to be a break area for the employees. The nervous new employee is shy and awkward high school student Evan who informs them they can’t hang out there, but KJ and Jasper take the kid under their wing, so to speak, and give him the benefit of their combined wisdoms which include the history of the various bands the two have formed over the years, (one of the many band names they used was “The Aliens”) as well as allegedly useful advice about relationships.

What it’s all really about is the sweet relationships that develop between the three as KJ and Jasper begin to pull Evan out of his shell; he’s a loner and a music nerd and painfully awkward around other people. Evan connects with both of them, though he’s sometimes put off by some of their stranger quirks and outbursts, he enjoys being around the pair and listening to them make music or Jasper read from his novel in progress. Act 1 ends with 4th of July celebrations happening around the trio with promise of maybe a brighter future ahead for all three of them.

But, this is theater so we need some drama and things change in Act 2 which opens with Evan returning back to the coffee shop after a week away at music camp where he met a girl he likes. Things are looking up for him but that’s not necessarily the case for the two older men…

That’s all the plot you really need to know, and frankly, Annie Baker’s plays aren’t really about plot. They’re about the characters and how the characters interact with one another and The Aliens is just a sweet character study of three lives that intersect behind a small town coffee shop over the course of a few weeks one summer. Things do happen that change the lives of all the characters but if you’re wanting big reveals, big drama, and big catharsis, then it’s probably not the show for you. What it does feature is some beautiful dialogue and three funny, charming, flawed but delightful characters to spend some time with.

I very much like the material but this is also an excellent production of the play, co-directed by Benjamin McFadden and Lindsay Welliver, who do a terrific job of staging within the very tiny confines of the theater. But, the chief delight here, besides the play itself, are the three fantastic performances from the actors. Nik Doner, known to us from his many local performances over the years, is not surprisingly superb as KJ, the King of Shroomed Slackers. Danny Jones as the easy to exasperate Jasper, is a revelation to us, as the more blustery of the two; they have great comic timing and chemistry with one another…it’s like watching Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden get into cahoots with Art Carney’s goofy Ed Norton. Except they’re younger, more damaged, and addicted to shrooms and coffee.

And, young Conor Craggan is the real deal; he’s a high school senior playing a high school senior (to be) and he’s amazing as young Evan, nicely playing the character’s awkard sweetness and coming of age under the tutelage of the two older dudes. The three actors just form this incredible bond onstage; it feels like they’re living the material and not just acting it.

A very enthusiastic recommendation for this production of The Aliens. A lovely piece of theater superbly well acted. Fans of good theater are very much encouraged to check it out.