Gen-Xers like to talk.
Correction: Gen-Xers like to drink and talk.
Being one myself, I can assure you we leap at any chance to sit around with some stiff drinks and get our bitch on. We wax poetic, philosophize, get all indignant and shit, and pass off haughty bits of opinion as truths.
Tedious? Sure. Interesting? Maybe. Entertaining? When it comes in the form of Jobsite Theatre's production of Phyro-Giants! — yes.
Michael Blieden's play examines fidelity, ghosts, God and more through the mouths of thirtysomethings. As bottle after bottle of wine disappears, the foursome — played by Katrina Stevenson, Summer Bohnenkamp-Jenkins, Ryan McCarthy and Shawn Paonessa — shift from small talk to self-revelatory banter, sharing secrets both shocking and troubling, made more so by the intimate set (not to mention a lack of light and sound cues).
Phyro-Giants! offers plenty of laughs as well, but it's the revelations that are likely to resonate. Of course, maybe I'm wrong … but with a running time of just over an hour, what's the harm in finding out?
This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2006.