Doing clever stuff with mime (see above) seems to be local theater's
soupe du jour, and Kinetic Theory Experimental Theatre has put on a wordless, impeccably cool re-enactment of a '20s-era silent film. Stephanie Abrams, Simon Chaban, and Sean Michael Williford play in a black-and-white penny dreadful about a young couple who get kidnapped by an evil baron. Abrams' young woman is sweet and demure, in a polka-dotted dress, hiding behind her boyfriend and gushing with pleasure when he picks her a flower -- or presents her with an engagement ring. Chaban's young man is an amusingly stiff and civilized hero in a gray suit who finds himself (late in the show) battling the undead with a sword. Williford is a wonderfully nefarious villain, in a black cape and ridiculous sideburns, turning the young couple's happiness into a living hell for no good reason. He even hypnotizes the projectionist, a bumbling woman played by Carrie Loser, who joins the show in full-color costume. The 90-minute melodrama plays out with no sound except an original (and very funny) piano score by Steven M. Forker; the most turbulent music seems to involve not just ordinary piano, but also a frantic harpsichord and someone pounding on the bass strings of an echoey grand with a wooden mallet. This is not your mother's mime: It's a stylish period piece that manages to be postmodern and even sexy.
-- Michael Scott Moore
