Grief, loss, guilt, depression, and a ferocious jungle feline on the loose might seem the unlikeliest of ingredients for comedy, but playwright Kim Rosenstock weaves them all together to laugh-packed effect in Tigers Be Still, the latest Chance Theater winner.

24-year-old art therapist Sherry Wickman (Piper Power) may have spent the past few months hiding out in bed following her father’s departure to places unknown (and after a string of rejection letters sent her into an emotional tailspin), but she’s doing a heck of a lot better these days than her older sister Grace (Erica Farnsworth), drunk and despairing and laid out on the living room couch since her fiancé cheated on her only weeks before their scheduled wedding date, or their mother Wanda, who’s opted to lock herself inside her bedroom after medication for an autoimmune-disease caused her to pack on an unwanted sixty pounds.

School principal Joseph (Steven Biggs) may seem to be holding things together (at least in comparison to the three Wickmans), but looks can be deceiving, particularly when your 19-year-old son (Joseph Bricker as Zack) has anger management issues, the reasons for which may well prove the most devastating of all.

The depth of Rosenstock’s characters’ despair may not be initially evident, so adept is the playwright/TV scribe (32 episodes of New Girl and 2 so far of the hit ABC sitcom Single Parents) at scoring laugh after laugh after laugh.

Still, depth there is, not only in the pain they attempt with varying degrees of effort and success to keep hidden, but in the richness Rosenstock gives all four of her protagonists as one or the other among them burglars an ex’s possessions (both inanimate and canine), shuts himself into a mother’s closet to smell her shoes, rages over a yoga magazine subscription he can’t manage to get cancelled, or does her best to deal with a Top Gun-obsessed sister, a therapy-resistant client, a mother’s long-ago high-school sweetheart, and a tiger on the prowl.

The absolutely terrific performances director Marya Mazor has elicited may come from a comedically heightened reality but never once do they lose their authenticity or veer into caricature.

Power’s quirky treat of a Sherry anchors the production to endlessly engaging effect, with equally memorable supporting turns from a powerhouse Biggs, a particularly appealing Bricker, and a deliciously dispirited Farnsworth.

Bradley Kaye’s giant-sized popsicle-stick house proves an inspired scenic design choice, Marisa Melideo has confectioned one costume treat after another (with special snaps to Sherry’s knack for colorful accessorizing), Megan Hill’s clever props range from miniature popsicle-stick house to pastries and Redi Whip to bagfuls of pilfered paraphernalia, Jeff Brewer lights all of the above to gorgeous effect, and sound designer Rebecca Kessin provides and expert mix of ringtones, karaoke backup tracks, and more.

Wade Williamson is stage manager and Gavin Lattimer is assistant stage manager. Madi Lang-Ree is dramaturg.

It’s taken nearly ten years for Tigers Be Still (a New York Times Top Ten Play of 2010) to make it from off-Broadway to beautiful downtown Anaheim Hills, but its regional premiere proves well worth the wait. Expect to exit the Chance uplifted, and with the widest of smiles on your face.

Chance Theater, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills.
www.chancetheater.com

–Steven Stanley
May 11, 2019
Photos: Doug Catiller/True Image Studio

Tags: Chance Theater, Kim Rosenstock, Orange County Theater Review