Barrier Island

Off Off Broadway the Maieutic Theatre Works produced David Stalling’s new play BARRIER ISLAND. Set in a small town bar in Texas, we meet the regulars. There is Susie and Nate who run the bar and Bob and Carol who seem to half live there. Carol is a single mom with a teenage daughter having an affair with another regular much too old for her, Carl. Trey has returned home from the war to find his home town unchanged––he has seen too much of the world to be satisfied by a small town existence. Just at this moment, Laura returns to the home town with her son Daniel to help deal with the affairs of her aging parents, who happen to own the bar. The story concerns the two lost souls, Trey and Laura, meeting and forging a potential future together. However, Laura must stay to clean up her parents’ financial crisis while Trey wants nothing more than to get out of town––especially since a hurricane is on its way. Regardless of the trials and tribulations of a narrow small town existence, the citizens of Barrier Island are going to weather the storm––figuritively and literally.

The first act of this play wove together the various little plot lines nicely, but the second act leaped illogically to wrap up each character’s journey. The last fifteen minutes was particularly tedious and unfathomable. Also, after a very good start and careful building of the relationship between Trey and Laura, the two did not find a way to meet in the middle on common ground to enable a successful relationship. Why has Stalling lead us on this journey of two lovers only to rob us of the pay off? He might feel that he is showing us the reality of life, but there is merit in giving the audience a satisfying ending. It is assumed that we are supposed to find hope in this community’s devotion to their town that is about to be ruined by the worst hurricane in generations, but it is little solace. Besides, every other little story line is wrapped up with an unrealistic ribbon, so the end result was an unsatisfying drama that failed to meet its potential.

The performances were one and all solid. David L. Carson as Nate the bartender was particularly natural in his role and handled his dramatic material beautifully. Mark Emerson as Carl was believable as a hick looser with a screw loose and commanded empathy at his dangerous circumstances dealing with a teenage girl. Anthony Crep as Trey and Jennifer Laine Williams as Laura had a great energy and sparked a believable romance, which made it all the more disappointing to not get to see the follow through. The supporting players, including young Frankie Scratch as son Daniel, were all well cast, sturdy players and Cristina Alicea did well directing the play in a space a tad too small for it.