(Above: Rebecca Nachison and Chris Pinto are Peg and Irv in NR4RP’s Kalamazoo)
By Monique Danziger
Kalamazoo is a play about finding love later in life. Specifically, finding the love of your life, losing that love, and then creating a profile on the Silver Foxes dating site to “get yourself back out there” at the urging of your kids.
Thus, we meet Peg (Rebecca Nachison) and Irv (Chris Pinto) in the Not Ready for Retirement Players’ production at the Wildish Community Theater. In the play’s first scene, Peg and Irv sit at two computers answering a variety of questions meant to match them with the perfect mate.
The contrast between them is quickly established and deftly plumbed for laughs.
“If you want a super model,” Peg types primly, “keep looking. And if you’re looking for someone voracious, adventurous and sexy … well, you’ll also want to search a little further.” She loves birds, enjoys the occasional can of Pringles paired with a bottle of Asti Spumante, and considers herself spontaneous — provided she’s been prepared first.
Irv, on the other hand, would love to try blowfish someday, “highly poisonous” he notes, but even if it kills you, “death by blowfish is not a bad way to go.” He’s less interested with explaining the nuances of his personality and more focused on finding a shiksa (non-Jewish woman) to hop into bed with.
Rebecca Nachison is a gifted actress with an impressive range. To make Peg believably uptight, Nachison brings just a hint of the same prickliness she brought to her portrayal of Violet in Oregon Contemporary Theatre’s 2013 production of August: Osage County. She then easily lets the crusty exterior fall away to reveal a woman with a vibrant spirit who is determined to live her life after so many years of having it run for her.
Chris Pinto, as Irv, earns lots of laughs for his dry quips and straightforward Jewish stoicism. He also brings a heartfelt warmth to a character who, at his core, is simply a lonely widower who dearly misses his late wife, Rosie.
Together, Peg and Irv run through a series of dating misadventures, a whirlwind romance, and finally come to a place of understanding. It is to the production team’s credit, including set and light designer Michael Walker and the hard-working stage crew of Jeff Goodyear and Sandy Bonn, that we follow Peg and Irv through multiple settings, including a Mexican restaurant, hotel room, beach, strip club and even the well-appointed dining room of the Four Seasons.
Director Chris McVay does an excellent job of blending these elements to keep the timing and transitions clean, so that the show moves at a good clip while building chemistry between the main characters.
Playwrights Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger borrow some of the great tricks of the comedic trade to gift their characters with superb zingers and call-backs. In the tradition of the classic malapropos remark, the character of Peg brings to mind the unforgettable character Mrs. Malaprop, from Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 comedy, The Rivals.
Some examples include Peg’s enthusing about a “poetry slap,” lamenting that the wedding planner refuses to acknowledge her chosen “anesthetic” (aesthetic), and joyfully shouting “Molotov!” instead of the Jewish phrase “mazel tov” in a moment of exuberance.
Then there is Peg’s oft-mentioned but never seen daughter, Maureen. The ugly duckling out of five, Maureen is unmarried and possibly hates love. Throughout the play, the characters have a lot of fun using the call-back to list Maureen’s seemingly endless list of physical failings, from her wart to her lazy eye to her orthopedic shoes. Rest assured, by the end of the show Maureen has gotten some help and seems to be on her way to finding some joy of her own.
Kalamazoo’s main characters may be older, and the play’s many jokes are anchored in the humor inherent to old age, but at its heart Kalamazoo is about the absurdity of human interaction and the need for connection. Watching two people overcome loss and fear to jump headfirst into an adventure feels relevant at any age.
The play is a light and lean 80 minutes with no intermission, but in that time the audience is brought along for a fun ride and left feeling a little younger at heart.
Kalamazoo
When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, 10, 15, and 17; matinees at 2 p.m. on Aug. 11 and 18
Where: Wildish Community Theater, 630 Main St. in downtown Springfield
Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 on Thrifty Thursday on Aug. 15, available by telephone at 541-868-0689, or online at wildishtheater.com
Information: Online at notreadyforretirementplayers.com or at facebook.com/thenotreadyforretirementplayers
