FringeNYC 2013: Bryan and Kim

Review by Wesley Frugé · August 9, 2013

Bryan and Kim is the type of new play that makes going to FringeNYC so exciting. The play investigates extremely difficult subject matter with such ease and emotional depth that what could have easily been conventional and expected turns into something that is both urgent in its message, and current for today’s audience.

Bryan and Kim is an intimate portrait of a young couple struggling to come to terms with a rape that happened to Kim in the recent past.  Kim is not your typical victim though, (she says, “I’m not that girl”), and she is trying to simply put the past behind her.  Kim’s character brings to life the incredibly wide range of emotions and contradicting feelings women can go through after such a traumatic experience.  She is fighting for her dignity, for her sanity, and most of all to move on.  Her boyfriend in the play is Bryan whose character puts a face on the never-spoken-about plight of the significant other who is trying to support and understand, while also attempting to gain closure.  Moving on isn’t so easy when it’s something as deep and dark as sexual abuse, but it’s not as clichéd as you would think either – the play is constantly surprising, touching, and moving as these characters navigate the waters of grief and re-connection.

Written and directed with unbelievable dexterity and aplomb, Adam Delia has created a modern play for today’s audience.  Weaving seamlessly through time, and employing many theatrical tools to assist with telling the story, this play is a true winner.  From the first moments when both characters are speaking at rapidly overlapping intervals, to the well-crafted flashbacks, the story unfolds with ease and we are ensnared in its uncomfortable subject.  Never contrived, and never resorting to crying/screaming to tell this story, Delia deftly guides his actors to superbly dimensional performances.

Laurel Casillo as Kim gives what will surely be one of the most spectacular performances of this festival.  Conveying every contradiction and inner-struggle with such emotional rawness, she gives of herself freely to the audience.  Her wide-eyes looking unabashedly forward, Casillo never turns away from this subject matter, and truly delves into Kim’s troubled world.  Misha Braun is equally as compelling as Kim’s boyfriend Bryan.  Played with grounded strength, Braun provides us with a male character’s perspective on over-coming rape.  A perspective that is both troubling in its’ undeniable truth, and completely fresh – how nice to see such a supportive, understanding, authentic male in this type of story.  Both Casillo and Braun pull no punches; every nuanced second of their performance is imbued with a life of its own.

With a truncated run time of 45 minutes, the only area for major improvement comes in fleshing out this story.  Bryan and Kim’s is a world that we want to live in, we want the details, we want to see how they met, and what their struggles are.  While the play does give us glimpses into these aspects of the story, more development is definitely possible.  Delia has spent a lot of time over the past few years developing this material and the polished nature clearly shows, but this subject and these characters deserve a full evening.

Another area for improvement is the physical aspect of Bryan and Kim’s relationship.  We see so much revealing emotional honesty, but their physical relationship is glossed over, with the intimacy that should be present in sex-scenes replaced by a hurried need to move to the next line.  We can learn so much about these character’s lives and relationship from their quiet, intimate moments – we want to see how they deal with each other in every way, not just verbally.

I am so happy I saw Bryan and Kim.  It was an emotionally compelling story that I’ve never seen before - both complex in its nature, yet simple in its unflinching honesty.  I can’t wait to see this material have a very long and rich life.