Review: 'The Science of Leaving Omaha' tells of trapped lives, offers unsettling message
“The Science of Leaving Omaha”, by playwright Carter W. Lewis, now making its world premiere at Palm Beach Dramaworks, will tell its audiences more about the process of cremation than they probably ever wanted to know.
The play takes place in the basement of a Nebraska funeral home. Even though the story is set in the present, Michael Amico’s wonderfully detailed set is a room trapped in an earlier time, with heavy drapes, old-fashioned wood furniture, a suitcase record player and a rotary telephone. It’s a room that might have been considered posh decades ago but now possesses a haunted, creepy quality — Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, and Grandmama would feel right at home.
One of the most prominent features is the door to the crematory, which, when opened, looks like the passage to hell.
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Watching over it all is Iris (Georgi James) a young dropout working on an essay she hopes will get her back into high school. This is Iris’ domain; she doesn’t seem to have a life beyond these walls. Her only companion on this wintry night is Ruth Ellen, a corpse in a body bag, until Ruth Ellen’s husband, Baker (Nicholas-Tyler Corbin), breaks in to see his deceased wife.
Over the course of 90 minutes, Iris and Baker, who are roughly the same age, reveal details of their lives, and bond over the fact that they both feel as trapped in their dreary circumstance as that room is of another era, and they each hatch their own desperate plan to break free.
James embodies her role, bringing an endearing mix of spunk and hesitance to Iris. As Baker, Corbin alternates between tenderness and rage. Merrina Millsapp is a welcome breath of fresh air as a sympathetic mall cop who bursts in late in the play.
Kirk Bookman’s lighting design is impressive and at times, downright scary. Roger Arnold’s sound contributes to the haunted atmosphere. Director Bruce Linser adds poetic touches in his staging, especially in the last scene, which seems hopeful on the surface but masks a tragic message.
Lewis’s portrayal of Omaha — a stand-in for countless cities and small towns — is that of a place where people’s dreams are destined to die, crushed beneath the weight of a system stacked against them; and the only route to true happiness is death. It’s a play with an unsettling message, one that many would rather ignore.
If you go
“The Science of Leaving Omaha” runs through Feb. 19 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. For tickets and more information, call 561-514-4042 or visit PalmBeachDramaworks.org.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Review: 'Science of Leaving Omaha' offers an unsettling message
