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Roller Skates and Mary Jane

nytheatre.com review by Laura Rohrman
August 15, 2005

Roller Skates and Mary Jane is a comedy set in the 1980s, and as such it is not without its charms. It features the requisite props of that epoch: a great soundtrack, including Cyndi Lauper and The Cure, and costumes that bring you back to the simpler times when there were only three looks: Rocker, Preppy, or Stoner.Created by first-time playwright Caroline Liadakis, who also stars as the play’s main character, Roller Skates and Mary Jane follows a young girl named Caroline through her teenage years in Baltimore during the '80s. Retro and fun, yet almost clunky in its straightforwardness, the play has many highlights. Caroline and her buddies, played by Julia Amsterdam and Anne Teutschel, come off as an eighties version of Grease’s Pink Ladies—slutty, fierce, and often funny. A particular scene-stealer is M. Kathryn Quinlan who plays Caroline’s stuck-in-the-'70s pot-smoking, coke-snorting, older sister Colleen. She is simply hilarious.For all the fun, the play has its share of problems. For one thing, the script has a confusing tone, which is not helped by Liadakis's use of monologues that directly address the audience every few minutes. Her “gee golly if I only knew then what I know now ” quips grow tired quickly. Better to let an audience get to know characters through their actions rather than constantly telling us how we are supposed to feel.Despite the brilliant costumes by Liadakis, the soundtrack, and some good lines, Roller Skates and Mary Jane doesn’t quite amount to a finished play. What is obvious, however, is Liadakis’s ear for dialogue and her potential as an artist. The writing style needs polish, and characters need further development, but I feel that the play with a little re-working could become something great. For the time being, I recommend Roller Skates and Mary Jane to anyone nostalgic to relive the '80s. There are plenty of moments in here that will bring you back and will remind you of the things you loved—e.g., Madonna—and hated (Oakley sun glasses, The Gap). I kept thinking… is that black lace tee she’s wearing mine? Oh yeah, I had one just like it in 1986.