The digital magazine of New York indie theater
Loading

Vicarious

nytheatre.com review by Michael Criscuolo
August 15, 2005

After seeing Justin Quinn Pelegano’s confusing new play Vicarious, I ran for the dictionary to look up the titular word, hoping that perhaps Merriam-Webster could shed some light on what I’d just witnessed. I came up with the following: "(1) performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another," and "(2) experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another." Neither definition was helpful to me, nor will they be to many others, I fear. Vicarious, while initially promising, fails to reveal itself down the homestretch, and eventually gets bogged down in a mire of uncertainty.Bobby is an unemployed slacker who spends his days sitting on the couch, eating Doritos, and watching the tube. These days he is addicted to TV news coverage of the disappearance of a grade school girl named Jennifer. Bobby’s roommate, Doug, is fed up with Bobby’s filthiness and his constant presence. Doug’s lack of privacy makes it impossible for him to invite over the object of his affection: the lovely office intern, Trista. Wanting to help his friend out, Bobby decides to surprise Doug by inviting Trista over. But, instead of hanging with Doug, Trista seduces Bobby. Or does she? Before long, Trista is hanging at the apartment all the time (seemingly without Doug knowing)—dressed as a Catholic schoolgirl, as the perfect suburban housewife, as Bobby, etc.—along with Young Jennifer, and Jim Davis, the TV newscaster. Is Bobby just imagining all of this? Or is everyone except Doug involved in the abduction of Young Jennifer?Alas, neither question is answered satisfactorily. Vicarious feels like only author/director Pelegano knows the answers, but refuses to share them with anyone else. Not even the cast looks like they know, which is too bad because Vicarious has a good one. Ryan Farley and Kira Blaskovich shine as Bobby and Trista; Jed Orlemann is appropriately disgruntled as Doug; and Michael Chmiel and Kara Greenspun lend ample support as Jim Davis and Young Jennifer. When the play stays close to realism, in its first half, both the cast and the script soar. But, as surrealism slips in during the second half, Vicarious loses its footing, letting both the actors and the audience down. Hopefully, with some judicious rewrites and changes, Pelegano will see fit to revisit this challenging and potentially gratifying work again sometime in the future.