The Boys Next Door
Staging Tom Griffin’s The Boys Next Door can be a tricky endeavor. The comedy about a group of developmentally disabled men and the social worker who looks after them uses a brand of humor that doesn’t always make people feel comfortable. The audience is encouraged to laugh at the cognitively impaired not because they are strange and freakish, but because their offbeat idiosyncrasies are honest reflections of neuroses common to even the most functional among us. The key to a successful staging of the play is the delicate balance between the comedy of the individual and the comedy of disability in a way that maintains a universal level of human dignity. The Sunset Playhouse production, which opened last weekend, comes perilously close to presenting its subjects as stereotypes of mental retardation, but only in brief, fleeting moments. For the most part, this is an exquisite production of a well-written contemporary comedy.
Mark Neufang plays Jack Palmer, the social worker keeping track of four men who live in a group home for the developmentally disabled. The play charts Palmer’s uneasy desire to find better, less stressful work elsewhere. Neufang has an impressive amount of nice-guy charm, but the subtleties of his character’s mounting job dissatisfaction are largely missing. However, Neufang brings more than enough compassion to the stage to make up for any other shortcomings in his performance.
Lawrence J. Lukasavage plays group home resident Norman Bulansky. Norman’s cognitive development seems to be stuck at grade school level, but he’s functional enough to hold a job at a local donut shop. This is Lukasavage’s first performance with Sunset and probably one of the few he’s had outside Off The Wall Theatre. Lukasavage takes to the new stage quite well in a brilliantly subdued performance. It’d be all too easy to simply pretend to be a child in the role of Norman, and Lukasavage gracefully avoids this in a very sympathetic performance.
Kurtis Witzlsteiner plays mild schizophrenic Barry Klemper. Klemper believes himself to be a professional golfer. Probably the most functional of the four men, Klemper may be one of the trickiest roles to play. The character has to seem completely functional until a key moment when everything turns around for him. Witzlsteiner is capable at conveying the character’s emotional dynamic, but seem to lack the kind of stage experience necessary to make the role as powerful as it could be.
Mario Alberts rounds out the central cast in the role of Lucien P. Smith, a profoundly impaired man who may not be all that well suited to life in the group home. Lucien carries books around that he couldn’t possibly read — clearly he aspires to overcome his impairment. His is one of the most emotionally affecting performances in the production aided in no small part by Griffin’s script. Near the end of the play, Griffin allows us to see the Lucien P. Smith as he has always wanted to be. Lights fade from the scene. A spotlight is drawn. Alberts enters as Smith. The slump and contortions of Lucien’s body slowly straighten out to a perfect posture. In a slow, confident and suddenly educated voice, Smith addresses the audience. Alberts’ performance here is phenomenal. It’s an overwhelming and startling transformation, but only because Alberts was so convincing throughout the rest of the play as a severely impaired Lucien. It’s easily the most powerful moment in the production — one of the most powerful moments onstage this season. VS
The Sunset Playhouse’s production of The Boys Next Door runs through June 14th. For more information, call 262-782-4430 or visit Sunset online .
