‘Luna Gale’ Storms into the Kirk Douglas Theatre

A Lawrence Dreyfuss

When the curtain opens on “Luna Gale” at The Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, two things are immediately apparent.  The first is that the play is set in gritty reality. We are inside a hospital waiting room.  The lighting has a fluorescent green tinge, the carpeting is suicide grey, and two of our leads – young parents, are waiting for news of the health of their baby.  The second thing that also becomes clear is that this will be a show of powerhouse performances.  Karlie (Reyna de Courcy) is wound up on meth and anxiously waiting to hear if infant Luna Gale is stable despite her negligence as a mother while lethargic father Peter (Colin Sphar) dozes nearby.

Luna is fine but is not allowed to return to her drug-addled parents.  Karlie’s mother Cindy, played by a subtly ferocious Jordan Baker, steps in to take custody while Karlie and Peter attempt to right themselves.  Cindy is an Evangelical Christian who believes that only through the love of Jesus may Luna live a good life.  Karlie is ideologically opposed. Yet, because of her life choices, the state has decided that she has no control over Luna for the time being.  The real star of the show is the mediator of the ordeal, Caroline (Mary Beth Fischer) – a CPS worker attempting to sort through the bureaucracy to find Luna the best possible future.

The play sets in opposition values of family and religion.  On one side are parents trying to rehabilitate themselves without the use of a rehab center because the waiting list is too long.  As Cindy’s influence on Karlie shows, a strong religious upbringing is not necessarily the path of the least resistance. On the hand, America is a nation of religion.  The Christian beliefs penetrate not only the homes of those looking for answers, but of Caroline’s workplace, a government office that constitutionally is supposed to be free from prayer. Yet, if Kierkegaard was right and only “with God’s help, [shall I] become myself” then is it impossible to separate the two? It is also then maybe impossible for Karlie to truly separate Luna from her religious roots.  The Scopes Monkey Trial, retold for the theater in “Inherit the Wind,” tried to solve this problem by presenting the two opposing sides as a dichotomy – science vs. faith.  This show has the much grayer task of separating values. In the mire of the debate do these conflicted characters lie.

This production of “Luna Gale” is at the top of Los Angeles theater. That may have something to do with the show’s history.  It premiered in January at the historic Goodman Theater in downtown Chicago where it played to rave reviews.  Now, rather than create a new production of the show, the entire original cast has to come to Los Angeles to keep the run going.  It is a small cast, seven in total, and everyone is able to shine. One of the strongest performances is from Colin Sphar.  The progression of his character is extremely subtle but hugely affecting. When he is given the reins of a scene deep in the second act, he is utterly mesmerizing.

This is a show about how characters deal with the hell of normalcy.  No actor embodies this more than Fischer in the role of Caroline.  She steals every scene she is in as she tries to remain the sane bureaucrat as everyone is going crazy around her.  It seems as if the entire play is the balloon of her psyche  with each scene adding a breath that will eventually make it pop.  Fischer tries desperately to fight against the air but each step forward is two steps back. The design, a revolving stage with three sets that allow one scene to flow seamlessly into the next. allows the actors to have as much room to act as possible.  The realism of each moment is terrifying and the production achieves its reality seamlessly.

Rebecca Gilman’s script allows little respite from the storm of moral ambiguity. Putting Luna at the center gives the play its sense of direction – the baby must live somewhere and there must be an answer. No matter how messy the answer is, it feels completely earned by this mesmerizing production.

‘Luna Gale’ continues its run at the Center Theatre Group until Dec. 21.