We Call Her Benny: Anna to the Infinite Power

Good theatre doesn't need special effects to be effective, only a good script, good direction, and talented actors to present it.  We Call Her Benny, written and directed by Suzanne Bachner, is a perfect example.

The story is delivered in fragments, with two non-linear stories from Anna's life being told simultaneously. The play unfolds like a puzzle box, shifting and changing with each new piece of information. One story is that of adult Anna (Judy Krause) and her alcoholic husband (Tim Smallwood) sexually experimenting with Anna's childhood friend Gaby (Morgan Lindsey Tachco) and her boyfriend Peter (Bob Brader); meanwhile Anna is trying to deal with the emotional demands of her clingy birth mother (Candice Owens), and the taunts of her imagined stillborn brother (Nathan Faudree). The other story is of 1980s teenage Anna (Anna Bridgeforth), who is bipolar, seeing a therapist (Einar Gunn), having jailbait sex with an older family friend (Danny Wiseman), and searching for medical information on her birth mother, despite her dad (Bob Celli) worrying that it might offend her hospitalized mom.

I was fortunate enough to catch an early one-hour version of the play in last year's Frigid Festival (review here), so I was very intrigued to see what had been done with the piece when it was expanded into a full-length.  The stories have been deepened, giving the characters more breadth (especially for Kevin, Anna's husband, and Max, teenage Anna's pedophilic boyfriend), and though the play still maintains its brisk and clever air, Bachner is not afraid to explore the darker places.  (Even in the previous production, she took unexpected risks with her stories characters, but now she has the chance to fully explore her themes in greater detail).

Bachner has a genius for dialogue; the early scenes lightly brush the surface of the plot while subtextually illuminating the issues that will become more evident as the play continues.  Even light banter has an underlying confusion and pain that the actors dig their teeth into.
Her direction, as before, is exquisitely theatrical- Four black cubes are the only scenery; All the actors are onstage throughout, and serve as living wallpaper in scenes- at times playing teenage Anna's nervousness while talking to her therapist, or melding into eroticism as Anna is being seduced, or in a freeze-frame as the family photo of Anna's birth mother's extended family.

In the previous production, there was a much greater physical resemblance between the two Annas; in this version they don't look alike at all (aside from being the only characters dressed in red), which led some audience members to be initially confused (or so they said in the lobby), but eventually they caught on.

The actors are great.  Most have carried over from the previous production.  Anna Bridgeforth, as teenage Anna, is simply sublime, switching from precocity to naïveté from moment to moment.  Newcomer to the cast Judy Krause is wonderful as the mature Anna, her sardonic wit bristling at every turn.  Morgan Lindsey Tachco is terrific as both Gaby and the Adoption agent- a new scene with Gaby as a teenager is wonderful.  Bob Brader is still hilarious as the eagerly seductive "I love cunnilingus!" Peter, but added scenes also allow him a little more depth.  Candice Owens is a frightening comic delight as Judy, the birth mother.  Danny Wiseman is great as charismatic child molester Max, as well as a jerkass cab driver in the opening scene.  Einar Gunn as Dr. Weitzner is subtle as a therapist should be. Tim Smallwood is, by turns, funny and frightening as Kevin.  Bob Celli is great as Dad.  Nathan Faudree is impishly evil as Brother.

Lighting Design by John Tees III perfectly enhances the production without distracting.  Costume design by Nadia Volvic is great- everyone in shades of grey and black, except the two Annas in red.

The show is terrific.  Go see it, if you want to see the amazing things that theatre can do.

We Call Her Benny
The John Montgomery Theatre Company
The Michael Weller Theatre
311 West 43^rd St. 6^th Floor (between 8^th & 9^th Avenues)
Running Thursdays-Saturdays, and Mondays at 8pm.
Tickets $18 or $10 for students and seniors.
Smarttix.com or 212-868-4444

Photo Credit:Scott Wynn