Liba Vaynberg as the Gallerina and Caleb Scott as David/Buddy (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
A brand of golden toilet paper is reportedly worth $1.3 million. Truly, you cannot make some of this stuff up. On second thought, yes you can. Indeed, for instance, bold, provocative, and talented playwright Harley Elias is proof that you can create outlandish stories that are daring and hilarious – even if such tales perhaps try to do a bit too much and test the limits of our ability to suspend our disbelief. Elias has written a new play in which a man undergoes an operation on his brain that leaves him permanently with “the intelligence level and capacity for understanding…of a large dog.”
The smart, challenging, and bitingly satirical “Bad Dog,” which may remind you of Theater of the Absurd, Theater of the Ridiculous, or the work of playwrights such as Christopher Durang, opened recently in a mostly first-rate world premiere professional production by Miami New Drama (MIND). The production runs through Sunday, Feb. 16 in the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, MIND’s resident theater space.
Mia Matthews as the Gallery owner, Liba Vaynberg as Gallerina and Caleb Scott as David/Buddy (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
The play, which runs roughly 90 minutes without intermission, features impressive performances by a talented cast. The performers, under MIND artistic director Michel Hausmann’s astute direction, are believable, energetic, and funny. Kudos to Mia Matthews, Caleb Scott, Krystal Millie Valdes, and Liba Vaynberg. Unquestionably, this quartet fully inhabits their characters and consistently entertains, keeping our eyes and ears riveted to the stage. Sometimes, Valdes needs to enunciate better and project, ensuring that people seated in the back of the theater can hear and understand her. But mostly, the cast members and behind the scenes artists shine.
“Bad Dog” is a complex, layered piece dealing with themes such as art, identity, power, truth, and deception. In addition, the play includes twists, turns, and will challenge you and take you for quite a ride. Buckle up.
Caleb Scott as David, who lives as a dog in a gallery for a month. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
You may have to experience the play more than once for you to fully grasp and appreciate it. That is partly because Elias has written parts of “Bad Dog” in language that may sound overly sophisticated or highfalutin. Also, it may help if you familiarize yourself with the art world before you arrive at the theater. The play satirizes that competitive world and how, for instance, we turn art into a commodity.
The present-day set play takes place in a Miami art gallery. There, a performance artist embarks on an ambitious project which you may find odd. Specifically, he will live in the gallery as a dog for an entire month. But as the artist’s true intentions become apparent, the project sparks chaos. Workplace betrayals and a gallerina uprising result. Of course, that is bad considering that the play takes place during Art Basel. This is a prestigious annual art fair in Miami that unites the art world’s most prominent artists, galleries, collectors, and curators. But within this unnamed gallery, division reigns before things improve toward the play’s end. Or do they?
Liba Vaynberg as the Gallerina. (Photos by Morgan Sophia Photography)
“We’ve got to figure this whole thing out,” one of the characters states at the end. So, too, may audiences need to figure out “Bad Dog.”
If you are easily queasy or offended, you may find some of the language graphic and upsetting. We learn, for instance, that an offstage character accidentally steps in dog feces and unknowingly spreads the waste across the gallery’s white floor. But maybe if you think about this scene differently, you can better stomach it. The s—t spreading could metaphorically symbolize the widespread crap that we must deal with daily after politicians and others sully our society with hypocrisy, hubris, corruption, and lies.
Speaking of dishonesty, more than one character may not be telling the complete truth in “Bad Dog.” For example, Gallerina delivers an entire monologue about her propensity to lie and enjoy it. The “listener” is none other than the dog, Buddy.
While shows such as “Annie” and “Legally Blonde” call for real-life dogs among the cast, that is not the case with MIND’s production of “Bad Dog.” Instead, a human actor – Scott – ably portrays Buddy with a real-sounding bark. The performer also moves like Man’s Best Friend. However, Buddy bites and is something of an enigma. Indeed, he encourages gallery visitors to approach him and help train him, but he also warns them that if they do, he will bite them. Perhaps this represents our dog-eat-dog world in which people will lie and do anything to be successful – even if that results in harm.
Liba Vaynberg and Krystal Millie Valdes in "Bad Dog." (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
In addition to portraying Buddy, Scott portrays David, the individual who, before the play begins, is a human being (we see and hear David via taped videos made before the play’s action begins).
Scott, a local actor who boasts numerous credits on television, film, and in live theater, imbues David with a winning sincerity, candor, and an “everyman” persona. You may not agree with David or what he has chosen to do, but he comes across as likable.
Vaynberg portrays Gallerina, a kind of intern at the gallery who eventually becomes Buddy’s trainer. When we first meet Vaynberg’s Gallerina, she is convincingly nervous and eager. However, she grows more confident and playful with Buddy as the action progresses. Also, we sense the character’s ambition.
Valdes, a veteran South Florida performer named one of American Theatre Magazine’s People to Watch, lends Assistant credible nervous energy and intensity in a complex and credible performance.
Matthews, also a veteran local performer, delivers a showy, yet convincing performance as the gallery owner. Matthews, sporting square-shaped, large reddish glasses and wearing a multicolored bright outfit, injects her character with an ambitious and confident air, and a glamorous aura. She is like a confident Hollywood movie star. However, the art gallery is her stage upon which she can do whatever she wants, when she wants, thank you very much. She is cutthroat, competitive, confident, and courageous. Cross her at your own risk.
In a multifaceted performance, Matthews also deftly conveys the gallery owner’s pain and suffering when things do not go her way. Since she has not exactly endeared us to her, we may relish in her exasperation if schadenfreude kicks in for us.
Mia Matthews, as the gallery owner, with Caleb Scott as Buddy. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
The actors perform on scenic designers Christopher and Justin Swader’s white-colored set that represents the gallery. It is a mostly bare, spacious room with curving walls and rectangular openings in the walls and high ceiling. While the place might look pure and pristine, much mud slinging and power struggles happen within the art world, the playwright may be trying to tell us.
In addition, behind the scenes, costume designer Christopher Vergara has created stylish outfits that befit the glamor of the art world and the importance of Art Basel.
Also, Kirk Bookman’s realistic lighting seamlessly illuminates the set. And director Hausmann keeps the pacing just right while, with his fine cast, finding the piece’s comedy and complexity.
Krystal Millie Valdes, as the assistant, delivers a message from David, the artist about why he has transformed into a dog. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
Elias is no stranger to MIND. After all, he co-wrote with Billy Corben the company’s current production of “Lincoln Road Hustle.” It is an immersive outdoor production that is running on Lincoln Road even as “Bad Dog” plays inside the Colony. MIND audiences may also recall Elias’s contribution to last season’s “The Museum Plays.” That production, a fusion of live theater and art, took place in Miami’s Rubell Museum.
Elias, an award-winning young playwright, often writes plays about the strangeness of history, the dismantling of power systems, and revolutions. The playwright, who has a BA and MA in history and art history, is writing what he knows in “Bad Dog.” Interest in the play should extend beyond Miami. Unquestionably, “Bad Dog” is a unique, stimulating work of art. It will be interesting to see how quickly other theater companies pick it up and produce it.
IF YOU GO
- WHAT: “Bad Dog” by Harley Elias at Miami New Drama
- WHERE: Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach
- WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 16
- TICKETS: $46.50, $66.50, $76.50 (plus a $6.50 service charge)
- INFORMATION: Call (305) 674-1040 or go to www.miaminewdrama.org
