Margin Notes: Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told

Seen on: Friday, 2/21/25.

Michelle Park and Francesca Ravera as Kathleen Abedon
and Jo Hunter. Photo by Bronwen Sharp.

Plot and Background

The Gene Frankel Theatre and ARA Theater present William Cameron's two-hander play: a showdown between a journalist and an implicated mother in the aftermath of another mass shooting. Jo, a crime journalist with a bestselling book about a mass shooter, meets with the mother of another mass shooter to record her experience, but is surprised by the revelation that Kathleen believes her son is innocent of the crime.

What I Knew Beforehand

Just the premise.

Thoughts:

Play: I think the premise is an interesting one, but I wonder if maybe the scenes are in the wrong order. From the moment Kathleen voices her opinion that her son didn't commit the murders, the audience and Jo know that she's delusional. And the audience's conviction never really changes. I think there could be a complicated journey explored if there were a sense that Kathleen's theories have some actual grounding. If the audience's notion of truth could be questioned over the course of the play, if we begin to wonder as well if Julian was framed, it would make Kathleen's final collapse all that more shattering. Instead, the audience sits through ninety-plus minutes of someone going through the denial stage of grief with little to no ripples in her waters. There's a richness to be mined here, of these two opposing characters with their complicated relationships to their sons, to violence, and to truth, but the play isn't there yet.

Cast: With a two-hander like this, it's important for both players to be completely keyed in to the stakes at hand, to be present and listening to each other, and to both be actively pursuing their objectives. While both performers have clear notions of who their characters are and what they want, each is still rather in her own world, which unfortunately manifests in a bit of detachment in their interactions. Lines that should be overlapping and interrupting are instead full of space and air, and the pulse of the piece is slower than it should be. Both Park and Ravera are emotionally present for their monologue moments, but I want to see that in the dialogue too.

Design: Elena Vannoni's scenic design welcomes us to Kathleen's new apartment, with walls made of crisp, plain and unlabeled cardboard boxes stacked haphazard around a matching brown floor. Though the seating is provided by a plain black sofa and two black wooden chairs, all other furnishings are wrapped in brown paper. There's an anticipation to this sort of starting point: truths will be unwrapped, inner lives revealed as the paper is peeled back. So I will admit to some disappointment that this slightly metaphorized space doesn't yield any sort of transformation as the play itself unfolds. Her costume design, meanwhile, helps sculpt the arc of Jo's navigation around Kathleen's walls: although she starts off upscale and stylish with a fitted top with an asymmetrical neckline over iron-creased white slacks, as the week goes on she swaps that for a looser, more casual blouse. Kathleen, meanwhile, starts with a light loose blouse over her elastic-banded jeans but eventually wears a tighter, more-structured shirt as her her defensiveness rises.

***

Running: Now playing at The Gene Frankel Theatre - Opening: February 19, 2025. Closing: March 9, 2025.
Category: play
Length: 1 hour, 45 minutes, including intermission.

Creative Team

Playwright: William Cameron
Director: Kim T. Sharp
Designers: Elena Vannoni (Scenic and Costume), Zee Hanna (Lighting), Michael Lind (Sound), Jo Calhoun (Stage Manager), Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR (Publicist), The Gene Frankel Theatre and ARA Theater (Producers).
Cast: Francesca Ravera, Michelle Park.

Michelle Park and Francesca Ravera as Kathleen Abedon and Jo Hunter.
Photo by Bronwen Sharp.