By DANIEL SHOCK
A Seat on the Aisle
Honeybees are disappearing. This is a concern because they pollinate 70 percent of the crops that feed 90 percent of the world. If the bees disappear, the plants disappear, followed by the eaters of the plants (us).
This is the problem that keeps the characters up at night in Madhuri Shekar’s play, Queen.
The play centers around two doctoral candidates, Sanam (Isha Narayanan) and Ariel (Chynna Fry), who are on the verge of publishing the results of nearly a decade of work to explain the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). They are certain that they have identified the cause and feel a righteous purpose as they are about to save the world.
While preparing the final presentation for their project leader, Dr. Phillip Hayes (Ryan Artzberger), Sanam finds that the last batch of data has changed the statistical significance of their findings and calls into question their method and results. The two candidates’ friendship is tested as they struggle to reconcile the data with their own idealism and pressure from Dr. Hayes to publish and ignore the latest numbers.
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I didn’t know a thing about this play before the lights came up, but I quickly forgot I was watching a performance and was absorbed into the story and the dilemma the characters faced. The actors, brought together by director Kelsey Leigh Miller, worked so well together that it felt more like a documentary than a scripted performance. Isha Narayanan, as Sanam, was utterly convincing as a young statistician facing enormous pressure to compromise her integrity for the easy solution. As Ariel, the biologist, single mother, and colleague of Sanam, Chynna Fry faces disappointment, manipulation, and gaslighting from all sides as she navigates all the aspects of her life competing for her time.
IRT fixture Ryan Artzberger presents Dr. Hayes as the good mentor who reveals himself to be as self-centered and petulant as a child when he doesn’t get what he wants. Finally, Nayan Patadia as Arvind the rich suitor that Sanam meets for dinner on a date arranged by her parents, brings that fresh perspective that we all often need to work out the solution to a problem. He has the opposite trajectory of Dr. Hayes; we start out disliking him but start to see him as more than he seemed at first. The entire cast was captivating.
The technical aspects of the production serve the story well. The set, designed by MeJah Balams, is simple and charming. I enjoyed the honeycomb design. Costumes by Finnegan Chu were simple and appropriate. Sound design by Ben Dobler was very well done, with several cell phone rings and voicemails that were well-timed with finger presses.
This production of Queen is the best theatrical surprise I’ve had in a while. I felt like I knew all these people. My sister is a scientist. I’ve known Ph.D.’s. I work in the agricultural industry. It felt real and genuine. I was on the edge of my seat at intermission, wondering how this was going to be resolved.
Director Kelsey Leigh Miller, in her director’s notes, says of the characters: “Each of the characters in this play is susceptible to a particular kind of near-sightedness. Tunnel vision that comes from a singular goal – professional, social, personal – can very easily blind us to the bigger picture, the bigger picture of our relationships, our community, or our world.” The best theatre asks us a question; most of the time, the answer is both complicated and simple at the same time. Strongly recommended.
Content advisory: there is some cursing in this show. None of it would be a concern to me as a parent of a 13-year-old.
Queen is produced by Summit at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, 705 N. Illinois St. The show runs through Feb. 24. Performance dates and times: Feb. 15 to 17: 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 18: 2 p.m.; Feb. 22 to 24: 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 25: 2 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the box office at (317) 635-7529 or online at phoenixtheatre.org/buy-tickets.
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