His 18-year-old daughter, Olivia (Kiara Dorothea full of attitude) glued to her cellphone, lounges on the adjacent picnic table; her major problem is a squirrel in the trail mix. Son Trip (a ripped, Greek statuesque Dominic Reatini) flunked out of Cornell and ended up in a Vegas strip club due to a pill addiction.
“What are we? The f**king Griswolds”—an apt allusion to the series of National Lampoon Vacation films. Leavengood’s “Greek chorus” is a very rich, nerdy virgin Rhiannon (the charming MacKenzie Aaryn) with a 4.86 GPA, and a Princeton T-shirt who doesn’t “like talking about vaginas.”The Yellowstone holiday, however, is really a ruse to get Trip into rehab. Mal is not much of a camper, but he’d like “this family to have meaningful time together.” He’s Pinellas County’s Teacher of the year but a frustrated semi-alcoholic writer who imbibes continuous rounds of craft IPA.
Leavengood’s winning tragic-comic plot revolves around two life changing incidents of family tragedy, each brought on by impulsive behavior. The lure of rare cognac and the distraction of Super Mario Brothers leads to a shattering event where the blame game creates a psychic wound that just won’t heal. “Our family was happy before then.”
After 28 years, Mal’s marriage to the absent Cassandra (a fine Margaret Murphy) is on the rocks. But just as he proclaims that “in this circus, we at least had our family” the theme from Rawhide (“keep them doggies rollin”) morphs into a comic dance break.
As Mal tries to smooth things over with some birthday ribeyes cooked over an open fire in the stone pit center stage (conveniently blocked by the raised cooler top so that the illusion is maintained), he queries if anyone knows a “ghost story.” Rhiannon volunteers and spins a tale that, as it ends, recounts the second moment of impulsive tragedy. The first act ends with multiple surprises as a bear threatens to invade the campsite.
Act II explores Leavengood’s themes of sobriety, family, marriage, sex, and the lasting impact of impulsive choices—all to an ongoing score embracing every cliche from 60s’ westerns. There’s a nod toward passive-aggressive, sadomasochistic behavior. One character confesses that “I’m difficult” with a family member’s rejoinder “only when you’re awake.” And later, reflecting on the earlier family tragedy, there’s a confession that “we’ll always be pathetic fucks.” To reveal specifics would deprive you of the fun with many twists and turns leading to the painful/touching denouement. “This is as sick as Leave it to Beaver.” We’re left to ponder the butterfly effect of chaos theory, where tiny ripples may lead to catastrophic winds. Leavengood has calibrated his excellent cast perfectly for the intimate space and they uniformly deliver. In the plays’ final moment, a lone spotlight shines on an object that gains increasing significance as the narrative unfolds, and while the family is still feeling the ripples, a significant hurdle is overcome.
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This article appears in Oct 12-18, 2023.