Driftwood Players
Wade James Theatre
950 Main St.

“Man Defeats Nature” by Christopher Bailey

Directed by Nicki Fey-Burgett

How many times have you been asked what you were doing when Kennedy was shot; or to recount your life during the morning of 911? There are milestone spikes of tragedy that become the fabric of the human condition which, experienced as a community, bind us together.

I suspect that those who were tied in some way to the 2014 Oso mudslide will relive those hours as news flashed around the world photos of the devastation that affected their lives from time to time.

These are the incidents that build a community – or prompt its demise. We ascend – or are defeated – by the balance of acts of God and the moral turpitude of man.

Such are the equalizers of Christopher Bailey’s “Man Defeats Nature,” which opened last night at the Wade James Theatre. Bailey has allowed his play about the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens to simmer over the past six years – with very favorable results.

Selected for the “Spotlight on Local Playwrights” series Bailey’s play centers around the lives of four main characters who – one year later after a volcanic eruption (presumably Mount St. Helens, although the mountain is never named in the play) are in various stages of recovery from the devastation of the emotional and geologic aftermath.

Director Fey-Burgett struck gold with her cast selections. Danette Meline and Dan Niven play a middle-aged couple (Kay and Wayne) groping through the emotional landscape of losing their only son to the eruption; their daughter in law, Amber, played by Annie St. John; and Amber’s love interest Carl (the town reporter) played by Asa Sholdez. It is Carl who has been given responsibility for chronicling the affects of the vaporizing heat blast from the eruption.

Smoldering just below the expressive surface, but driving each character’s life forward, is the conspicuous absence of Tim – Kay and Wayne’s son who had volunteered to take on a logging shift for “the company” the morning of the volcanic eruption. The couple takes opposite routes in stumbling through their grief over the fact that Tim never returned after the lateral blast of the eruption.

The playwrights portrayal of Kay (Meline) in the awakening stages of liberation that finds her way in spite of her husband (who divides the world into “real men”, like himself and “tree huggers”) is impeccable.

Meline, whose work on the stage is professional, convincing and generates a true empathetic connection with the audience is a stand out in this production.

Niven (playing her husband Wayne) is a welcome return to the Driftwood stage with his strong presence and sense of dialogue timing.

Artfully Edmonds has called out Asa Sholdez in earlier columns and he and St. John make the best on-stage couple as Carl and Amber, whose attempts at finding love in the aftermath of destruction is bittersweet and wholly realistic.

Lest you avoid “Man Defeats Nature” because you think the topic of a son who never returns home after a catastrophic event is maudlin – think again.

Playwright Bailey has interspersed just the right amount of black humor, sardonic wit and literal belly laugh moments throughout the production.

Laughing at someone’s pain is never nice, unless you’re laughing at Annie St. John’s portrayal of Amber – young widow – who deludes herself into thinking she has a future as a stand up comic.

St. John’s transition from sincere bereavement to hopeful moments of seeing her name on the marque of comedy clubs everywhere is worth the price of admission.

Speaking of the price of admission, in his opening remarks board president Ted Jaquith reminded audience members that half-price tickets to see “Man Defeats Nature” are available by using the promo code “encore” when placing your ticket order.

Tickets are available by calling 425-774-0600 or online at www.edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org.