Written by Daniella Litvak

Local playwright Anders Hosek does not lack ambition. To create a night of theater about the themes of affection, reflection, and connection, he staged two of his original works: The Saguaro Dove and Love In The Mirror.   One is an apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic survivor story. The other is a fairy tale. Both are love stories.

Love In The Mirror was performed first. Viv (Charlie Massey) and Kim (Kristine Lahde) are lovers who are separated when the apocalypse hits and must cope with the loss. The Saguaro Dove is a beauty and the beast-esque tale about a cactus (Saguaro played by Gage Vaughan) and a bird (Dove played by Ashley Huey – Dove) falling in the love.

Of the two, The Saguaro Dove was more successful. The concept of a bird and a cactus falling in love is charming. I could see it forming the basis for an illustrated children’s book. The play doesn’t confine itself to one tone the entire runtime. It can be funny. It can be sad. It can be wistful. The variety is appreciated.

Huey gave the standout performance of the night as Dove.   Her bubbliness injected a significant amount of energy into the Show. Vaughan provides a nice foil as Saguaro. His performance was good, but the way the character moved onstage was distracting. The staging came across as trying too hard to constantly tell the audience this character is a cactus. It wasn’t necessary because Saguaro’s costume was great at conveying he was a cactus. Costume and Makeup Designer Sabrina Jones more than met the challenge of dressing someone up as a cactus; it was the best costume of the night. She went with a more abstract approach for both of Saguaro and Dove’s costuming.

The greater contrast between Dove’s liveliness and Saguaro’s melancholy makes their interactions engaging. Viv and Kim from Love In The Mirror also have a “brooding boy, gentle girl” dynamic, but because they’re more similar in personality, their interactions are not as entertaining as Dove and Saguaro.

The stage design for The Saguaro Dove proves the old maxim of a little goes a long way. Yellow sheets on the floor and the tumbleweed and rock props effectively depicted a desert. The visual effect at the end was simple but enchanting. It was a good choice to perform The Saguaro Dove second because the ending tableau was the right note to end the night with.

Despite occupying opposite ends of the science fiction-fantasy spectrum, both plays have a lot in common. Both are two character pieces. The dialogue in both tended to be overwrought. Science fiction and fantasy are operatic genres, but here the dialogue came across as trying too hard to evoke Shakespeare.

The primary theme of both plays is characters feeling like there is blood on their hands (or spines in Saguaro’s case). While it’s interesting to compare and contrast the treatment of the themes, it got repetitive.   The secondary themes the plays present were more interesting, and there’s more potential to be minded from those.

Love In The Mirror tries to tackle a lot of things. I have to say the major plot twist was surprising. The lighting effects added atmosphere, but it would have been nice if more could have been done with the set and costumes.

Review

7.3 Overall

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Story7

Acting7.5

Set & Design7.5

Costumes7.5

Entertainment7

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Average Show!