Playwright: Jake L. Freund and Liz Ellison. At: Cold Basement Dramatics at The Den, 1333 N. Milwaukee. Tickets: www.pointandshoot.brownpapertickets.com; $15. Runs through: Dec. 7
The mission of Cold Basement Dramatics is "telling stories about things we hide from ourselves and others," but this tale of a 1950s gay man isn't quite on-target although Point and Shoot is well-produced. Unlike many low-budget off-Loop shows, it's attentive to period design details from the bobby socks and dungarees of teenager Diana ( Sonja Lynn Mata ), to men's undershirts ( athletic shirts vs. the ubiquitous T-shirt of later decades ), to the black dial telephone and vintage camera. Kudos to director Jake L. Freund and his designers.
The 75-minute play itself is a mixed bag, although convincingly acted with crisp and pithy dialogue. Reportedly based on real events, it was developed and improvised by the ensemble before Freund and Liz Ellison finalized it. It concerns John Locke ( Alex Lavelle ), perhaps 30, who moves to Ocean Beach, California in 1955. Thing is, he isn't hiding anything. The word "gay" isn't spoken ( nor more standard 1950's epithets such as fag, queer, pansy or fruit ), but the noisy parties John throws ( often inviting sailors from the nearby naval base ), the photos on his walls and the arty films he has made leave little doubt. So the play isn't about the closet or hiding who you are.
Rather, it's about John's friendship with Diana Hopper, the daughter of his straight-laced neighbors. She's 15 when the play begins ( although her precise age isn't made clear, nor is the passage of time ). At 18, Diana loses her virginity to a sailor at one of John's parties. Her parentsespecially her fatherblame John and force Diana and the hapless sailor ( Nicholas Caesar ) into a shotgun wedding, which John tries to forestall, enduring a brutal beating from Diana's father ( Stephen Dunn ). There also are three ghost-like former lovers of John, whom he left under circumstances not precisely spelled out. The gist of the play is that John, with his before-times openness and generous personality, is an agent-provocateur who seems to create messes he can't clean up and leaves behind.
Point and Shoot is an interesting stew but has too much going on for its length. John's gayness is coincidental to the chief storylinehis relationship with Dianaand we see too little of Diana's parents to know how their attitude toward John evolves. Then community scold Mrs. McAllen ( a comic cameo by Mark Maxwell, who doubles as a former lover ) appears only onceto no effect. She needs to have a purpose. Actually, John needs a purpose as the play's hero, some decisive action. Right now, he's a passive participant in the key events. We need to know more ( for example, the backstory with the lovers ) in order to understand what John hides from himself.