MTC's Midwinter Frozen Marines Land in Ross

Three characters inhabit the landscape of Frozen, Marin Theatre Company’s third play of the season, and each speaks candidly, usually alone, from a bleak, multi-use set. The first to be introduced is Agnetha, an Icelandic-American psychiatrist who is leaving home and having a difficult time of it. Her carryon is packed and waiting; she carries a bulky tote. And then, quite unexpectedly, she bursts into wracking sobs, weeps uncontrollably into the bunched-up tote, then suddenly recovers.

When next we meet her, Agnetha’s on an airplane and ringing the inattentive flight attendant for more brandy to calm her white-knuckle anxiety. As she mutters a denunciation of the flight attendant, she composes and sends a furious e-mail to “David.”

The second character is Nancy, a pleasant British homebody, whom we meet puttering in the garden, fussing about her plants, chatting about her family. Nancy’s teenaged daughter, Ingrid, has taken to wearing eye makeup that makes her look like a panda, she says. Rhona, the ten-year-old, has gone over to her grandma’s. At least, that was the intended destination.

The third character is Ralph, a pedophile who will kidnap Rhona, murder her, and hide the body very near her home. In a chilling address to the audience, Ralph demonstrates how he lures little girls with repeated “Hello”s until they respond and begin a conversation. He also shows off his carefully-kept collection of kiddie porn videos, reads their titles and boasts of their rarity.

Five years later, Nancy is still convinced that Rhona will be found. She has become a spokesperson for a missing children’s organization. Ralph is showing off his latest tattoo and craving company again. Agnetha is in England, giving lectures about the “frozen seas of the criminal brain” and postulating that crimes committed by such a brain –even serial killing—should be forgivable.

Much later, Agnetha meets Ralph, who is now caught and incarcerated. Across a table, Ralph speaks to her, answers questions, loses his temper, makes obscene verbal passes. (A nonspeaking guard keeps watch in the background.) Rhona’s remains have now been found, and the shed where Ralph lived has been demolished, along with his video collection. (Steve Schoenbeck’s demolition sound effects are especially vivid here.) Ingrid, now grown, sends her mother prayer flags from Nepal and urges her to forgive and “move on.”

These are all creations of British playwright Bryony Lavery, who first produced Frozen in 2004. It played on Broadway that year and in San Francisco a year later.
The Marin Theatre Company production is directed by experienced Bay Area director, Amy Glazer, who sees Lavery’s play as “a powerful, human journey.”

These are gritty parts for actors, especially for Rod Gnapp, who plays a damaged, but still manipulative Ralph. When the psychiatrist asks him to describe his childhood, Ralph details the “lovely kitchen” in his childhood home, with its long pine table and lots of warm bread.

Lorrie Holt as Nancy, the mother, goes through a wide range of emotions alone onstage, from horror to dutiful coping to hope.

Stacy Ross, a frequent player at Marin Theatre Company, has the role of Agnetha.
She lectures to the audience about her research, and then demonstrates how she got it. We even get to know who “David” was and why he got the hate mail – an act for which she has to apologize.

The characters shift radically and sometimes implausibly in the long second act. Nobody, however, is frozen anymore.

Frozen will be at the Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley through Feb. 11, with special events and discussion groups throughout the run of the show. Seniors receive discounts for weekday and Saturday matinees. For complete information or reservations, call 388-5208 or see www.marintheatre.org.

Theatre is a collaborative art. To succeed, it needs a workable script and an insightful director. It wants costumes, sound, set, lights and music to weave right into that script, and it hopes for actors who can convey this whole story to an audience. When all these parts come together in a subject both contemporary and historic, the combination can be sublimely satisfying. Happily, this has occurred in Ross Valley Players’ A Few Good Men.

Its playwright is Aaron Sorkin, creator of the hit TV series, West Wing. Sorkin was only 28 when he wrote the play in 1989, but this drama involving the court martial of two Marines at Guantanamo Bay seems right out of today’s headlines. The playwright got the idea from his sister’s work in a military legal office that was defending soldiers at the base who’d been accused of murder.

A Few Good Men’s director is the highly-respected James Dunn, who chose it for the current RVP season. A former Marine himself, Dunn said, “I love the military, even though I’m opposed to war. They (military people) do protect us.”

Uniforms are real, scrounged and borrowed by costumers Susan Keener and Michael A. Berg. Berg’s father was also a Marine, a career officer who served in three wars and died in Vietnam.

The set (Don Cates) is tax-supported utilitarian; the lighting (Ellen Brooks) moves the action around the stage. The sound (Stephen Dietz) amplifies every scene change with drill marches. And the acting is fine in all directions.

Sixteen players carry the action, only one of whom is a female. They rank from PFC to Lt. Col., and rank means everything in this courtroom of Marine and Navy personnel.

The story concerns two career Marines, Dawson and Downey, who have confessed to the murder of a third, PFC William Santiago. A Junior Grade Navy officer, Daniel Kaffee, is assigned to their defense. Kaffee’s career so far is unimpressive, but it vanishes entirely when compared with his late father’s legal brilliance. Kaffee defends his mediocrity with wisecracks and attention to his ball team.

Two other representative from the Judge Advocate General are also assigned to the case, Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway, who loves courtrooms and thinks there is more to the case, and Lt. JG, Sam Weinberg, who just wants to go home in time to hear his baby’s first word.

The defendants don’t waver from their confession or from their “Yes SIR!” demeanor, but occasional flashbacks are offered from the Cuban victim, a complaining, letter-writing Santiago. And the question is raised: was this murder, or could Santiago’s death have been an accident resulting from in-house discipline of a whiner? If it was a “Code Red” discipline, who ordered it? And why did Dawson—a “Stepford Marine” -- call an ambulance after it happened?

The prosecution offers a plea bargain: ten years, seven if Code Red can be proved. And
the search for truth begins, along with Col. Jessep’s famous quote, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Eric Burke plays the formidable Jessep. Michael Abts portrays Navy defense lawyer Kaffee, with Stephen Dietz and Jennifer Reimer as co-defense. On the USMC side, Chad Yarish appears as Kendrick, Christopher Ginesi as Jack Ross, and Ben Colteaux as Markinson. Rob Hogan is the Judge.

The defendants are Wendell Wilson as Dawson and Pierre Littee as Downey.
Gregg Davis is the deceased Santiago.

The resolution of the case is not revealed until the last minutes of the play. Is it a happy ending? That’s for audiences to decide.

A Few Good Men will play at The Barn Theatre in the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross through Feb. 18, Thursdays through Sundays. For the month of January, all active and reserve military will be admitted free. For complete information or reservations, call 456-9555 or see www.rossvalleyplayers.com.