I always am excited when I go to see a PETE production. Regardless of my feeling about the show itself it will be done beautifully.

I’m not sure why I wanted to see this particular production other than I want to support as much theatre as possible. Wednesday night at the Reed College Performing Arts Building there was a great crowd to see the show and a very large percentage of the audience were members of the theatre community, a shout out to Chris Murray, Briana Ratterman and Kathleen Worley who all took a moment to chat, but there were many there and that was awesome.

The PETE team of designers who are all company members work so well together. I would have to imagine Ms. Lingafelter, the Director, led the team toward an aesthetic-modern, with great taste, clean and very specific. The physical space transformed into a circular arena- colosseumesque as if we were all in an operating arena from the turn of the century. The lighting, video and sound worked seamlessly together to create tone, atmosphere and mood.

Ms. Lingafelter does nothing half ass. I’m not sure if there was another project between X at Third Rail and Telephone with PETE, I cannot imagine there was. These two shows couldn’t have been more different but held a similar commitment from the actors in what is arguably very challenging material. That commitment, focus and creativity is what I’ve come to expect from one of her productions. This show is no exception.

I don’t want to have to read notes about the production to understand what is happening in front of me or to explain the experience I’m about to have. I think the event itself should be able to do that. It doesn’t have to wrap up with a nice bow, it can produce more questions surely, but the storytelling ought to be compelling enough. What I missed in this production was a strong enough through line to string it together.

The Dramaturg’s notes did not necessarily help me.

This is a “three act” sort of performance. I’m going to say it- one hour and 45 minutes is too long to sit without a break. Some folks left before it was over. When I leave the last thing I want to think about is how long I was sitting there.

Actually it’s more like a 4 act event because the first act was sound and lights and although I loved it I thought it went on a bit too long. The second act, the first with actors, was really a delight. Playful, sensitive and every moment compelling. It’s hard not to watch Mr. Coleman as every moment, every movement carefully orchestrated- so clean and unexpected and clearly understands how to work in the round. The clowning by both was so nice to see and nice to see the actors enjoying working and playing with one another.

The middle section was a bit more challenging to digest. Not sure the costuming helped me understand who these voices/chorus were, though all three were absolutely committed to what they were doing or trying to do. The three performers that took on this section were technically amazing so just to witness that was very cool though it left me a bit baffled and eventually I stopped trying to make sense out of it, maybe thats part of the journey. In a similar way Mr. Coleman is fascinating to watch so is Ms. Whitehall. There is a humility in her work/presence, every moment carefully thought out, specific and compelling-spare. It’s hard to look away.

The final section, was absolutely delicious. I don’t want to give it away but this is certainly worth the wait and I could have experienced this sort of full cast, exploration of a human experience we are all familiar with, funny, heartbreaking, thoughtful, full of hope and regret and possibilities for a much longer period of time. Though I really needed to move by the time it was over.

I think there are only a few more chances to catch the show. There is no other theatre company in town that does stuff like this so please keep it up!

Though July 11th and here is the link for tickets: Telephone