‘Stops Along the Way’ @ The Core Theatre
Photos by Autumn McNamara
—Jan Farrington
Amid all the Christmas Carols and Wonderful Life radio plays and such, it’s a good thing to find a brand-new play peeping out of the garlands and greenery of the holiday month.
The Core Theatre’s Stops Along the Way, an original script from company artistic director James Hansen Prince (who also directs), is a work in progress—but there’s definitely some “there” there to work with. Plus, the solid cast of actors come out swinging—and give the play an intermittent energy the script doesn’t quite live up to…yet.
Played in multiple short scenes, almost blackout-sketch style, Stops Along the Way has a great idea—two newlywed musicians (Texas kids) find themselves at far-apart spots in the U.S. of A., and try (in the face of a sudden coast-to-coast blizzard) to reach Dallas and each other by Christmas.
Their many “stops,” of course, are the plot of the play. And each quick scene (well, most of them) has the kernel of a sweet/funny/weird little story that ought to keep things going. All they need (“all” being a term that makes playwrights give you the side-eye) is a few more drafts or workshop sessions to tune them up. On their twin journeys, Kim (Hanna Destiny Lynn) and Alex (Vitaly Mayes) meet comical airport staffers, mysterious quilt ladies with scary neighbors, a bickering couple on a bus, a theater guy trying to stage Shakespeare in the boonies, philosophical bar/cafe owners (and mechanics), and a whole town that does coffin races (on snow) in honor of an early settler.
This is good stuff (the song snippets are lively too), and I could see it becoming a holiday tradition for Core—but it needs a few go-rounds of sharpening and revision. In addition to Lynn and Mayes, who are warm and real as the migrating lovebirds, the cast includes Arianna Cinello, Emily Cole, Annabelle Frigoli, Thomas McKee, Trevor Powell, and Jonathan Sowell. Each of them pulled of a character (or two) I’ll remember.
See y’all again next year, maybe?
WHEN: November 17-December 17, 2023
WHERE: 518 West Arapaho Road, Richardson (Suite 115)
WEB: coretheatre.org
