Brilliant Traces and the art of feeling less alone
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – When it’s done well, theatre has a way of making you feel less alone; a way of making you feel seen right there in the safety of your darkened seat. When it is done well, theatre has a way of making you feel like what you just experienced was written, specifically, for you. I honestly didn’t realize that was the type of experience I was in for when I chose Colin Thelen to be the Artis of the Month for April.
To give you the elevator pitch, Brilliant Traces, the show Colin is staring in, deftly weaves literal and metaphoric warfare between two desperately lonely people, on opposite ends of an emotional crisis, who find themselves thrust together while an Alaskan blizzard destroys the world right outside their door. One of these people is running away from everything when the other, who is desperately searching for anything, stumbles upon him. As if they are the debris and the storm the powers of fate, they collide into and flee from, one another on purpose and by accident, all at the same time, until the storm finally subsides.
In the capable hands of its directors (Chelsea McManimon-Moe and Luke Erickson), Brilliant Traces keeps the audience on its toes from the time you enter the theater and take your seat. The set, a ramshackle barn in the wilds of Alaska, has treats and surprises for you throughout. With set dressing, lighting and sound, you’re transported to the serenity of a quiet, long-forgotten, barn. That serenity is then shattered by the colliding of another soul into the calm created to provide shelter from the storm. From there, the two characters, and you the audience, are taken on a ride of discovery and confession. The soundtrack keeps the pace and weight of the evening in ways that transfer you to the stars and the lights set the mood for every turn and twist the script takes you through.
When I decided that Thelen would be the WI Proud Artist of the Month, it was because I knew he, and his production company, had a show coming up in April. I knew that Grey Area would be bringing a thought-provoking and challenging show to audiences the way they have for the 6 shows they have mounted. I knew that Colin would provide a professional and captivating performance… the way he has for every production I have ever seen him in. I vastly underestimated everything. Colin shows a level of vulnerability and pain with this performance that I haven’t seen from him. He conveys years of guilt, anguish and fear in his silent moments that inform his loud moments. He rips himself open and bares his own fears through this character to the point you cease to see Colin and are left watching Henry Harry work through this moment in his life.
Across from Mr. Thelen on this ride is Taylor Goodine. She envelops the frenetic and, altogether, lost soul that is Rosannah Deluce. Deluce blows in with the blizzard and wreaks her own sort of havoc on the solitude that Harry has built for himself. Goodine balances the combative, submissive, bold and subdued Rosannah with grace and ease. She uses every ounce of herself to breathe life into a character that just wants to be seen. Goodine connects herself to the fabric of this Deluce and lets you see why she is hurt and how hurt manifests itself.
Be it fleeting or forever, loneliness has hit us all. At one time or another, that pang of hurt has crept into our lives. We also want to be seen. Even the person who just wants to be left alone wants to be seen as the person who just wants to be left alone. Brilliant Traces takes those commonalities and shows them back to us. While we haven’t all lived through a blizzard in the Alaskan wilderness, we have weathered many an emotional storm that we thought would never end. We have all thought civilization would be better if we just removed ourselves from it. We’ve all fancied running away until the pain stopped chasing us. We have all wanted to scream and thrash and fight and have something show us that we aren’t alone.
Brilliant Traces, starring the WI Proud Artist of the Month, runs one more weekend at the Pump House Regional Arts Center.
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