‘Love and Vinyl’ @ Kitchen Dog Theater
Photos by Jordan Fraker
—Martha Heimberg
Two longtime pals walk into their favorite vinyl record store to browse the albums, the alluring new owner enters cussing the crappy electric system, and a charming, poignant rom-com breaks out. A trio of first-rate actors precede to deliver laughter, heartbreak and R-rated language in a richly detailed setting that can only be the real thing. (The F-bomb, sometimes comically used, mostly accounts for the R-rating.)
Kitchen Dog Theater closes their 33rd season with Bob Bartlett’s Love and Vinyl, directed by Christopher Carlos—KDT co-artistic director—with savvy comic pacing and smart movement in a evocative but demanding acting space. The site-specific play premiered last summer in Washington D.C., and speaks to the power of friendship and the balm of hearing the music the characters grew up with played on a turntable they can touch.
The 85-minute show takes place in the polished aisles of Good Records, a popular East Dallas vintage record store, now in its 23rd year. Good Records caters to the growing market of collectors who, when listening to the music they love, prefer the grooved authenticity of vinyl records over any invisible streaming source.
Note: Kitchen Dog has built their current season around works performed in real-life spaces corresponding to play settings—including a gym and a baseball field—while the company’s permanent home nears completion. They plan to open next season’s plays in KDT’s handsome new theater just north of the Design District.
Bogie (bouncy, eager, Jamal Sterling) and Zane (Max Hartman masking vulnerability with manly confidence) have been best friends since 9th grade, and tonight they’re meeting up at the record store to share news and check out the latest vintage ‘80s rock albums.
And what a hilariously touching pair they are. Sterling’s Bogie, a pent-up accountant, is all chatter and nerves as he carefully lifts a record from its cover, smells the vinyl with a joyful sigh, and puts it on the turntable. When Zane arrives looking even more nonchalant than usual, Bogie coaxes his pal to admit he’s just broken up with his longtime girlfriend. In a funny and touching scene, Bogie advises Hartman’s stiff-upper-lip Zane to cry and let all that lovelorn pain out. Zane, a smooth-talking social studies teacher, has at least known love, while shy and lonely Bogie turns into an awkward, spooked-out mess even when he’s only practicing how to ask a woman out.
Sage (versatile, dynamic Karen Parrish), the new owner of the store, comes on like a determined loner, a tough gal glad to be done with the emotional pitfalls of romance. She prefers to remain an observer as customers meet, feel a spark from her nostalgic musical offerings, and go their merry (paired-up) way. Parrish’s chimerical Sage is not only wary, but wise in her literary-spiked speeches about the joys of living on her own in the apartment above the store. Then—in a rock-out comic scene featuring air guitars—Sage discovers that Bogie and Zane once had a band, and she’s all smiles and whirling dance. Tina Parker, KDT co-artistic director, costumes the cast as realistically as the setting.
Bashful Bogie asks Zane if he should pass the pretty girl a note. But Zane is also taken by this intriguing, shape-shifting woman. The appeal of the show is in the rising sexual tension of the soon-boisterous triangle, and the witty dialogue that reveals the inner depths of these funny, sweet, lonely people. We’re rooting for all of them, right up to the surprise ending. Be there.
Note: Doors open at 7:30. When the store closes at 8 p.m., stacked conference-style chairs are set up in both aisles of the record shelves that extend down the length of the boxcar retail space, giving everyone a clear view of the actors. Due to limited seating, advanced ticket purchase is requested.
WHEN: June 6-23, 2024
WHERE: Good Records, 9026 Garland Road, Dallas
WEB: kitchendogtheater.org
