Conservative talker Mike Rosen sometimes opens his daily radio broadcast by spouting, “You don’t have to win every individual argument to win a debate.”
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but . . . Mike Rosen is right.
Curious Theatre’s entertaining regional debut of Stephen Karam’s youthful teen-angst comedy “Speech & Debate” loses many of its arguments, but turns out to be a winning evening nonetheless on the strength of its energy and originality.
This often laugh-out-loud-funny yarn, told from the refreshing perspective of three awkward high-school outcasts, is the most enthusiastic story of the season by far. Inspired by a true scandal in which the mayor of Spokane, Wash., was caught in a gay chat room with an 18-year-old, “Speech & Debate” skewers an array of adult hypocrisies. And once in a while, it even throws in an enthusiastic musical number!
But its blemishes are as impossible to conceal as teenage acne: a scattered script in which every scene runs just a bit longer than they should, an inconclusive ending and, here at least, questionable casting.
We’re in Salem (that’s Oregon!), one of many winking references to the colonial witch trials. The story starts out quite strong, with a grouchy, self-righteous student newspaper editor named Solomon (Glen Moore) hot on the trail of a school sex scandal.
Diwata (Laura Jo Trexler) is a highly dramatic, attention-starved drama-club reject with an ax to grind against the teacher who stuck her in the chorus for “Once Upon a Mattress.” Howie (Steven J. Burge) is a flamboyant transfer student intent on starting a gay-straight alliance at the school. Circumstances bring these disparate dweebs into an unlikely alliance they call the speech and debate club.
But Karam’s promising premise loses its legs as our teen trio become tangled up in their own web of secrets. By the end, “S&D” isn’t so much a satire as a more ordinary play about teen bonding and acceptance. Accompanied by a lot of shouting.
If this quirky little play is to fully connect, it must have absolute authenticity in performance, and director Dee Covington’s staging is unilaterally miscast. That’s no commentary on the quality of the talented actors. They all perform with great gusto. But there’s a fine line between gusto and compensatory overacting, which is what adult actors tend to do when they’re trying too hard to act like they belong to an age group that they don’t. That robs this staging of some legitimacy.
The fourth actor is Rhonda Brown, who plays all the adult roles, ranging from a teacher to a reporter. But she’s directed to play each with wild exaggeration, and to what purpose is unclear.
It’s a promising script (with a film adaptation in development), but it’s so lacking in subtlety and vulnerability, at times it comes across more as a parody of modern youth rather than the welcome window of understanding that this playwright surely intended.
These capable actors are trying so hard, they inadvertently turn their respective character types into mere caricatures.
Curious is often deservedly praised for its open-door casting, and its commitment to teens through its nationally regarded Curious New Voices playwriting project. All the more disappointing that they couldn’t scour the local high schools for three age-appropriate actors to play these roles.
Though Karam’s ultimate point needs more clarity, he provides perceptive insight into youth culture, as well as the responsibility of the media vs. the public’s right to know.
Covington’s staging is punctuated with many fun presentational accents, including Todd Webster’s clever chalkboard video design, and a soundtrack ranging from Mika to Belle & Sebastian to “Fanfare for the Common Man.”
For every flaw, “S&D” thrills you with some silly flash of staging brilliance, such as a scene that pairs Diwata (as Mary Warren from “The Crucible”) with Howie (as a maybe gay Abraham Lincoln).
Coming of age is an inherently humiliating, angst-ridden and confusing experience. “Speech & Debate” is inconsistent and doesn’t quite hold together as a dramatic whole. But it is peculiarly funny, quirky and appealing, especially to a teen audience.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Speech & Debate” *** (out of four stars)
Curious Theatre, 1080 Acoma St. Written by Stephen Karam. Directed by Dee Covington. Through Dec. 20. 1 hour, 40 minutes, no intermission. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. $35 (2-for-1 Thursdays). 303-623- 0524 or .
Running Lines with . . . The cast of “Speech and Debate”
This week, Denver Post theater critic John Moore talks with actors Laura Jo Trexler, Steven J. Burge and Glen Moore, and the alter egos they play in Curious Theatre’s “Speech & Debate” through Dec. 13. Recorded Oct. 27, 2008. Run time: 4 minutes.
Laura Jo Trexler: In her own words
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“I’m the lucky character who gets to do ridiculous ‘Crucible’ interpretations, mock strip-teases and belt numbers accompanied by Casio keyboard. Could it get any better?” — Laura Jo Trexler (plays Diwata; most recently Rachel in Curious’ “End Days”).
The story: Three high-school misfits linked by a town sex scandal decide the only way to get to the truth is to form their school’s first speech and debate team.
The intrigue: This is one of the first stagings of this clever comedy anywhere since it premiered in New York last year. Written by Stephen Karam.
