9th Play - 7/9/23 - Quake by Melanie Marnich

I’m not even sure how I found this play. And I didn’t fully understand every moment in it, but it was fascinating!

Summary: "Lucy is on a cross-country mission, looking for the love of her life. Her journey takes her across the American landscape, through hilarious and eccentric relationships in which time and emotion pass in a warped instant. When her quest becomes intertwined with that of a quirky female serial killer (an astrophysicist gone bad), the landscape changes once again, as they cross state lines and faultlines, exploring the geography of the human heart." (Playscripts)

Loved: There was so much wonderful in this piece - each character was fascinating and interesting, and remarkably dimensional for the short time we got to know each of them. The play is incredibly non-realistic and sometimes absurd, and one place morphs into another which is wonderfully intriguing. (That could make it a challenge to stage, but a fun one!) I think this would be a great ensemble piece where a few people got to play a whole bunch of different characters, with the exception of Lucy, the main character, and the serial killer. Although the premise is odd, I did appreciate Lucy's obsession with the serial killer and kind of enjoyed her journey. *** SPOILER (little tiny, but still) *** I liked that things went badly in one of the interactions later in the play, though. That made Lucy more interesting to me, because we finally got to see her vulnerability.

What I didn’t Love: With the traveling of the main character from one scenario to the next, I never really had time to care about what was happening, until an interaction goes badly. That was when I started to care more about Lucy, but up to that point she's a little … flaky. I kind of got that she needs to move from one place to another, but I didn't know why, so I cared less about her. And she's the only character you have time to get to know, except for the serial killer. I did find her interesting, but less fascinating than Lucy seems to find her. So, ultimately I was less involved in the whole journey. Also, there's no real plot other than that, so there's no urgency to the piece other than Lucy's state of mind.

Overall: I felt like something in Lucy's life cracked, therefore she was complelled to go on this journey to find herself. That felt real to me, and I liked the idea of her journey of discovery, going from place to place, following whoever, whatever, just living in the moment. However, until late in the play when she is hurt, rather than hurting someone else, I didn't really know enough about her to care that much about her. Without a plotline, too, it was hard to stay fully interested in the piece. That being said, I was just reading - I think a great director and ensemble who provided the story behind the words of this piece, or at least knew themselves so it mattered, might be able to bring this to life and make it fascinating and delightful. A bad production would likely be pretty hard to watch and care about, though. However, I think that this play would be so much fun to work on as an actor, director, and I’d really love to see someone’s interpretation of it.

Here’s a link to Google Sheets with more info about the play: Play a Day Sheet