Love Roller Coaster
Only three more chances to see Nerve at Naked Stage
By Mary Damiano
Blind dates, personal ads, cyber hook-ups--the road to romance has evolved over the years. But one thing has stayed the same. Every couple, no matter how they get together, has to take a first step, to get to know one another, warts and all.
That first encounter is the subject of Nerve by Adam Szymkowicz, the comedy now playing at Naked Stage in Miami Shores. The play focuses on a couple on their first date. They've already been to a movie and the play opens as they arrive at a neighborhood bar. It's an innocuous enough situation, but their futures seem to hang in the balance.
Susan (Katherine Amadeo) and Elliot (Antonio Amadeo) appear normal enough at first, but appearances can be deceiving. As they begin to reveal themselves, their quirkiness, insecurities and disappointments bubble to the surface. Each has a unique way of dealing with stress. Susan choreographs dances in her head that illustrate her feelings, while Elliot uses puppets as a sounding board. We see them indulge in these activities in short fantasy sequences.
Over the course of 70 brisk minutes, Susan and Elliot play out an entire relationship, even though it's only a first date. It's accelerated for the sake of the play, but it's not implausible.
To have real-life husband and wife Antonio Amadeo and Katherine Amadeo portraying this sweet but dysfunctional couple is imaginative casting. Their chemistry is apparent even as their characters fight, and lends deeper urgency to the fate of Susan and Elliot's burgeoning relationship. Susan and Elliot are odd but likable; you're torn between wanting them to make it and praying they get as far away from each other as possible.
Antonio's easy-going appearance belies Elliot's obsessive personality, but his jittery body language conveys Elliot's neediness. Katherine's outer beauty hides inner turmoil that surfaces in her fantasy dances.
Antonio Amadeo's detailed set looks as if he transplanted a neighborhood bar right onto the stage of the tiny Pelican Theatre. The design, which includes beer bottles lining the walls and a pool table that serves no other purpose than for the right atmosphere, is so authentic that Nerve has a voyeuristic quality. Theatre seats seem to disappear, and the audience is transformed into bar patrons, privy to the couple's first date antics.
Director John Manzelli brings out the humor in Nerve and some other fun bits to boot. As the audience files in Jason Dewitt performs some lounge-lizard karaoke, setting the mood for the surreal comedy to come.
Nerve illustrates the hopefulness of people who've been hurt before, who keep looking for the one person who will love them and stick by them in spite of the fact that they're clingy or obsessive or just plain weird. Nerve is ultimately an uplifting play, and the Naked Stage production is funny and entertaining.
Nerve runs through Nov. 30 at Naked Stage at the Pelican Theatre on the campus of Barry University, 11300 NE 2nd Avenue in Miami Shores. Showtimes Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets $12-$25. Call 1-866-811-4111or visit www.nakedstage.org.
Only three more chances to see Nerve at Naked Stage
By Mary Damiano
Blind dates, personal ads, cyber hook-ups--the road to romance has evolved over the years. But one thing has stayed the same. Every couple, no matter how they get together, has to take a first step, to get to know one another, warts and all. That first encounter is the subject of Nerve by Adam Szymkowicz, the comedy now playing at Naked Stage in Miami Shores. The play focuses on a couple on their first date. They've already been to a movie and the play opens as they arrive at a neighborhood bar. It's an innocuous enough situation, but their futures seem to hang in the balance.
Susan (Katherine Amadeo) and Elliot (Antonio Amadeo) appear normal enough at first, but appearances can be deceiving. As they begin to reveal themselves, their quirkiness, insecurities and disappointments bubble to the surface. Each has a unique way of dealing with stress. Susan choreographs dances in her head that illustrate her feelings, while Elliot uses puppets as a sounding board. We see them indulge in these activities in short fantasy sequences.
Over the course of 70 brisk minutes, Susan and Elliot play out an entire relationship, even though it's only a first date. It's accelerated for the sake of the play, but it's not implausible.
To have real-life husband and wife Antonio Amadeo and Katherine Amadeo portraying this sweet but dysfunctional couple is imaginative casting. Their chemistry is apparent even as their characters fight, and lends deeper urgency to the fate of Susan and Elliot's burgeoning relationship. Susan and Elliot are odd but likable; you're torn between wanting them to make it and praying they get as far away from each other as possible.
Antonio's easy-going appearance belies Elliot's obsessive personality, but his jittery body language conveys Elliot's neediness. Katherine's outer beauty hides inner turmoil that surfaces in her fantasy dances.
Antonio Amadeo's detailed set looks as if he transplanted a neighborhood bar right onto the stage of the tiny Pelican Theatre. The design, which includes beer bottles lining the walls and a pool table that serves no other purpose than for the right atmosphere, is so authentic that Nerve has a voyeuristic quality. Theatre seats seem to disappear, and the audience is transformed into bar patrons, privy to the couple's first date antics.
Director John Manzelli brings out the humor in Nerve and some other fun bits to boot. As the audience files in Jason Dewitt performs some lounge-lizard karaoke, setting the mood for the surreal comedy to come.
Nerve illustrates the hopefulness of people who've been hurt before, who keep looking for the one person who will love them and stick by them in spite of the fact that they're clingy or obsessive or just plain weird. Nerve is ultimately an uplifting play, and the Naked Stage production is funny and entertaining.
Nerve runs through Nov. 30 at Naked Stage at the Pelican Theatre on the campus of Barry University, 11300 NE 2nd Avenue in Miami Shores. Showtimes Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets $12-$25. Call 1-866-811-4111or visit www.nakedstage.org.
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