Stray Cat brings old spirit to new digs in 'Everything'

Everything Will Be Different

AZCentral.com / The Arizona Republic
Kerry Lengel
Publication Date: October 4, 2008

You can take the cat out of the alley, but you can't take the alley out of the cat.

Stray Cat Theatre has moved into new digs for the 2008-09 season, at the Tempe Performing Arts Center. The venue is not to be confused with the $63 million Tempe Center for the Arts, but it's a vast improvement over the alternative troupe's last theater, with better lighting and sight lines. And you no longer can touch the ceiling.

Such luxuries, however, haven't changed the company's artistic mission, which has never been about making the audience comfortable. The season opener, Everything Will Be Different: A Brief History of Helen of Troy, isn't always easy to watch.

The play by Mark Schultz is about a 15-year-old girl shattered by the death of her mother. Outcast at school and estranged from her alcoholic, emotionally abusive father, Charlotte is desperate to make new human connections and takes her cues on how to do so from all the wrong places. Idealizing her mother's beauty and ashamed of her own appearance, she becomes obsessed with looks, fame and sex appeal, with results that are sometimes comic, sometimes poignant and always potentially disastrous.

Willa Darian is bravely vulnerable in the role, although she plays up her character's desperation in a way that leaves little room for nuance. Cale Epps is depressingly believable as her father, who is equally damaged and ill-equipped to nurture her, and Michelle Chin gives a winning performance as Heather, Charlotte's perky pal, who offers makeup tips.

Aaron Wester is less assured as her only other friend, Franklin, so their scenes together lack a crucial element of emotional complexity. But the material is strong enough to stand up to a few hiccups in performance.

Both an intimate exploration of character and a compelling critique of contemporary culture, Everything Will Be Different is exactly the kind of work that has helped Stray Cat claw out a unique niche in Valley theater.

Reach the reporter at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896.

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/arts/articles/2008/10/04/20081004different1...