But then we get to the second half of this full-length one-act play and the subject matter changes. Now it’s not genocide that’s challenging the intellects of the consultants; now it’s the possibility that their assignment, strange as it is, is a deception, designed to test them and perhaps determine which of them is expendable. The talk turns from mass killing to which of the four knows more than s/he’s saying, who is working for management, who is only feigning ignorance. This new material, which takes us all the way to play’s end, is less inventive than the previous: Say “everyone gets paranoid,” and you’ve pretty much described 40 minutes of theater. Still, Loeb keeps the fear mutating at a helpfully rapid clip, and if there are no big surprises, there’s humor and much clever dialogue. As disappointments go, this one’s pretty entertaining.
Keeping us pleased, too, is the acting. Summer Dawn Wallace is Hannah, the head of the team and a complex personality far from any clichés. After a few minutes, we learn that she’s demanding, she’s married, and she’s having an affair with one of the consultants who report to her. The possibility that she may be involved in a great slaughter is less distressing to her than the likelihood that her colleagues may learn of her infidelity. And though her capacity for a commanding seriousness is great, so is her physical comedy once it occurs to her that the conference room (nicely designed by Rew Tippin) may have been bugged.
Equally affecting is Brendan Ragan as Brock, a proud, intelligent hothead who won’t tolerate insubordination from an underling, and who thinks so fast, it’s a pity that all his energy is in service of a catastrophe. Ragan’s Brock is sharp-tongued, hard-edged, lean and hungry. His opposite is Ted, played by Tom Foley as a guy who’d be just as appropriate in a local bar as in a business office. Foley portrays Ted as a superficially easygoing type, but one whose inner self is tough and hard-hitting. The brainiest of the four colleagues seems to be Sandeep, a native of India played by Gopal Divan as a generally gracious man who nonetheless can be provoked to walk out on his colleagues when the pressure gets too great. Finally, Anthony Gullikson plays note-taker Scooter as an enthusiastic nebbish who simply doesn’t have enough respect for his seniors. The play is directed kinetically by Jim Sorensen, better known for his acting; the business attire is by David Wallace, the expressive lighting by Justin L. Morris.
If I mostly recommend Ideation because of its first half, I don’t mean to suggest that the play ever gets tedious. Loeb is too good a playwright to spend too long on any one subject, so even in the latter part, the constant changes hold our attention. But I can’t help but regret that the play wanders from its initial focus. You don’t have to be Bernie Sanders to recognize that big business in this country has often done the equivalent of what Ideation depicts: It has insouciantly planned the destruction of the environment, the ruination of the climate, the damaging of hearts and the fouling of lungs. Recognition of that fact is what makes the first section of Loeb’s play so very resonant. As temperatures rise and sea levels rise with them, its aptness is all too obvious.
Ideation
3 1/2 of five stars
Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St., Sarasota. Through Mar. 12: Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 8 p.m.
$5-$28
941-321-1397. urbanitetheatre.com
This article appears in Feb 2-9, 2017.