Love Song

I’ve been trying to make changes in my life recently. Trying to go back to the things that I used to love so much. Like acting, writing, going to cultural events. I really missed seeing plays, so I decided to go by myself to see the show at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park on Thursday night. It was called Love Song, a play by John Kolvenbach, which sounded a little cheesy, but the description was intriguing so I thought I’d give it a try.

When I got to the theatre and took my seat, I looked around at the other people coming in to the show. At least 90% of the people were above the age of 50, and I’d say 50% were above 70. I only saw a handful of people who were anywhere near my age. There were a couple of groups of college aged kids taking notes, probably seeing the show for extra credit in a class. Then there were a few couples, the guy looking like they had been dragged out to see a play after months of nagging on the girl’s part to “do something smart.”

I thought this was pretty sad. Have the arts started to die this much in this area? I mean, I have been saying for a long time that no one I meet around here has any culture, but I was hoping there was this hidden group of art fans that I had yet to meet. But whenever I go to a play or art gallery or anything along those lines, I find myself to be a glaring minority. The Cincinnati arts scene is dominated by the older people in the area. I know that there are a few people my age who enjoy this stuff, but it’s so rare now. Have we quit educating people about the benefits of arts and culture? I can’t imagine something I’d rather do than be a part of some artistic event. It gives me life and makes me feel like myself again. What gives that effect to other people? Bengals games and Coors Light? Cornhole and Guns N Roses? Sigh.

So when the play was about to start and everyone had taken their seats, I looked around and the entire theatre was packed…all except the row where I was sitting. I was the only person in the entire row. The only empty seats in the place and I was smack dab in the middle of them. Put a big fat spotlight on the single girl.

Anyway, the play itself wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. The acting, directing, and set design was great. The play itself left something to be desired. Basically it was about an awkward anti-social guy named Beane who sat alone in his apartment freaking out all day and thinking the walls were closing in on him. (I do have to give some set design credit here, because the walls actually moved in on him and the effect was pretty powerful.) Finally Beane invents an imaginary girlfriend who is a burglar and a libertarian. She’s also extremely gruff and annoying, but apparently I’m the only one who noticed that. So through this imaginary girlfriend, he comes to life again and begins to want to partake in the outside world. He also changes the life of his sister and her husband by making them skip work and have sex all day, all while miming smoking cigarettes and doing heroin (don’t ask me, I didn’t write this crap). There is also a 20 minute discussion about how everything represents sex, including mouse traps and skyscrapers. Then Beane and his imagined girlfriend act out crawling on lava covered streets to absorb into one another. That’s how much they love each other…wow, deep (sarcasm).

I really don’t know how this play got published or produced, but it was still an interesting experience. I’m sure the writer thinks that he is extremely profound, and I’m also sure that a lot of people watching this think that it must be deep and insightful because it’s weird and they curse a lot. That makes art, don’t you know?

The largest redeeming factor in the show was the actor who played the part of Beane. He was amazing, one of the best actors I’ve seen in a play for a while. In the program it says he just graduated from the MFA program at Yale, so I think he has a great career ahead of him.