‘Shape’ @ Kitchen Dog Theater
—Martha Heimberg
Wanna get in shape? Go to a gym. Okay, but what kind of gym? Is the program built around the rewarding carrot of praise, or the relentless stick of another set of reps?
Kara-Lynn Vaeni’s Shape, a Kitchen Dog Theater production about one woman’s obsession with getting fit, takes place right in the middle of an actual, serious, no-frills CrossFit gym in the Dallas Design District. How’s that for authenticity in set design? (Note: Kitchen Dog’s current “Out of the Box” season is built around work performed in real-life places corresponding to play settings—while their permanent new theater is under construction.)
But wait. Here’s this hunky, smiling trainer James (ever-versatile Ian Ferguson) twirling around in a rainbow tutu doing fun dance moves with two happy customers—Puppy (convincingly muscled, anxious Cara Stratham Serber) and Fern (hilarious, shape-shifting Shyama Nithiananda). The three are congratulating each other for what a fabulous workout they’ve completed.
Turns out, we’ve been on a quick trip down memory lane with Puppy to the merry, carrot-oriented Unicorn Gym in New York, where she once loved working out five times a week to stave off growing middle-age angst (and ounces) after she turned forty. What’s more, Puppy’s NYC gym mate, swaying in a unicorn swim tube, prophesizes that good girl Puppy will get her dream job teaching in a real college, with real research money, and will “live happily ever after.”
In Dallas.
Directed with comic empathy by the playwright, Shape is based on Vaeni’s own culture shock, gym-wise, when she moved to Dallas. This 80-minute theatrical “workout” not only builds Puppy’s body muscles, but strengthens her belief that she can do what she sets out to do—or not.
The point is, she’s in charge.
Back in the gym, Ferguson, now the tight-lipped, all-business trainer Rog, tells eager Puppy she needs to “set long-term goals.” Unlike bouncy James from Manhattan, Ferguson’s Texas-tough Rog works Puppy like a marine sergeant training a rookie for battle. “It’s supposed to be fun,” she whines. If poor Puppy looks for a kind word or a bit of praise for her quivering weight-lifting efforts, Rog is unmoved. Arms crossed, he says flatly, “I don’t do emotion.” Also, he never eats “for joy,” but sticks to the same meal every single day. Eventually he does admit he has visions of pizza…occasionally.
The workouts get tougher. Rog keeps adding more weights and repetitions, and their relationship gets heavier as well. We’ve heard Puppy’s proud stories of telling sophomores her real age so they’ll go, “Wow. We thought you were 25.” Now they guess 35. Back to the gym. One session, when Puppy drops her shoulders in frustration and says she’s done, Rog suddenly screams, “I decide when we’re done.” This tough trainer is doing emotion after all.
It’s not all bars and weights. The fun of the play is in the clever surrealistic aspect, mostly carried by Nithiananda’s various characters. Every woman in the house laughed when she appeared in a leotard wearing her Scale hat, and chastising Puppy for gaining a pound or two. “You’re f….ing weak!” yells Scale. Nithiananda is also the menacing medicine ball, and the joyful rainbow-clad friend back in New York, calling from the Unicorn Gym to say she’s won the top award. Sigh. Now Puppy must work herself even harder!
Serber delivers a moving performance as a woman who changes her ideas about the shape of many things in her world, including why she goes to the gym. Ferguson’s tough trainer will make you feel you’ve had a real workout. Go see Shape, and think about why you’re working so hard to be so perfect.
Good exercise for your head muscles. Really nice gym, too.
WHEN: February 8-25, 2024
WHERE: D-Town CrossFit, 155 Parkhouse St, Dallas
WEB: kitchendogtheater.org
