Studio 108, at the Organic Theater Company Greenhouse Lab Theater.
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Somewhere beneath this stilted, slow production is a darkly funny, if flawed, script about a pack of losers hanging out at a craps table waiting for a high roller named Johnny Red. But director Valerie Olney has filled the show with so many arch moments and meaningful pauses, accentuated by Robert G. Smith and Kevin Geiger’s expressionistic lighting, that they crush the subtler touches in Paul Peditto’s script–his hard-boiled wit, his stark but poetic dialogue, his eye for eccentric characters. And we’re left with only his portentous, millennial themes: the world is a dark and dangerous place, everyone dies, and God does indeed play dice with the universe.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Greg Nagan.
