Laughter Ducks the Hard Stuff

Tiburon resident and director Jayne Wenger opened her most recent show, a world premiere of Hard Laughter, just up the highway in San Rafael. Working close to home is not typical for her. A specialist in new work, Wenger has directed projects in New York, Illinois, and San Francisco. She took on Hard Laughter a year ago, when San Rafael’s AlterTheatre began to assemble the production.

The play is based on Marin writer Ann Lamott’s first book, written when she was twenty-three.( Wenger says she and Lamott used to live near each other in Tiburon, but weren’t acquainted at the time.) Another well-known professional, Ann Brebner, is a long-time friend of Ann Lamott’s and had wanted to adapt the book for a screenplay. The present script was created in collaboration with Laurel Graver.

Hard Laughter, says the play’s director, is “a small family play about a bohemian family’s response to the father’s brain tumor.” The family lives in Bolinas, 1979. The father is a likeable guy, a lover of birds and opera, a benevolent buddy to his children. The mother has left home to find herself in a law career. Of the adult kids, two are stoners, and one is-- recently and militantly -- sober. How will these four cope with this horrible news?

Cope? Well, they don’t much. They make themselves available for all kinds of distractions, including three extra characters: Megan, a cute little neighbor who has wise things to say about the meaning of life; Kathleen, an unreliable best friend who makes and breaks bar dates, and Honey, a dotty grandmother whose attention is devoted to who’s still living and who’s not. A cooler of beer occupies center stage. It is never empty, except when everyone is drinking wine. Wallace, the father, is going through a life-threatening illness, but the rest of his family seem already anesthetized with various occupations and substances.

There are some beautiful things about this production, though. One is the cast, which is blessed with seven fine actors. Jeffrey Bihr as the father is especially good as he struggles with the difficulties of speech. Lindsay Benner, as his daughter and stand-in for Lamott, is entirely believable and even looks like the book’s author. Zac Jaffee and Rio Codda play the brothers, Ben and Randy, both part of and separate from the rest of the family. Hannah Rose Kornfeld (Megan) is an 8th grader in Mill Valley and already a stage veteran. Frances Lee McCain carries the role of Honey, the grandmother, and Laura Lowry is the now-and-then best friend, Kathleen.

Another happy surprise is the performance space itself. AlterTheatre operates out of various storefront locations along Fourth Street in San Rafael. This one’s in The Wooden Duck, a furniture store transformed into a theatre with subtle lighting (Jon Tracy) and well-designed sound (Will McCandless.) Ms. Wenger’s direction leads the actors around the limited space and allows close-ups of the action.

This is Hard Laughter’s first time on the stage. In its present form, it won’t get legs, but if the script can be tightened and focused, it could become a Marin classic.

Hard Laughter will be at The Wooden Duck, 1848 Fourth Street in San Rafael, Thursdays through Sundays, through May 18. Sunday shows begin at 7:30; all others are at 8:00. For reservations and prices, call 453-0345.