Amanda Peet takes a trio of characters we’ve seen before–a parent, a prodigiously talented child, and a dedicated coach–and weaves them together into the cliché-defying Our Very Own Carlin McCullough, as riveting a World Premiere as I’ve seen at the Geffen Playhouse, or just about anywhere else for that matter.

 The titular Carlin (Abigail Dylan Harrison) may be only ten years old, but she’s already competing in tennis matches opposite girls six years her senior, which is why her single mom Cyn (Mamie Gummer) finds herself tempted when Stanford coach Salif (Tyee Tilghman), having witnessed Carlin’s prodigious talent on the court, assures Cyn that her daughter is a shoo-in for a full-scholarship (including room and board) at The Academy, where tennis stars are made, news that does not sit well with Jay (Joe Tippett), the offbeat coach who has help mold Carlin into the player she is today.

And so Cyn must make a decision, stick with what works, even if Jay is uncertified, even if his undeniable sex appeal gets Cyn’s motor running, even if his hands-on methodology might come across suspect to the outside observer,

 Playwright Peet may be best known for big-and-small-screen starring roles, but she is no slouch in the play-writing department as her sophomore effort makes abundantly clear.

Not only does Peet get us invested in her three lead characters, in the choices that lie ahead for each of them, and in the outcomes of those choices, the question of whether Jay’s interest in Carllin is professional and paternal or prurient keeps us guessing well into the play’s second act when Caroline Heffernan takes over as Carlin age seventeen.

 Our Very Own Carlin McCullough may focus on tennis, but playwright Peet could just as easily be writing about gymnastics or figure skating or any other individual competitive sport that asks young girls to grow up too quickly as parents, coaches, schools, teams, or sponsors put fame and fortune ahead of happiness, no matter that their still developing minds and bodies may not be up to the stress and strain put on them, no matter that the system chews up and spits out gifted girls for sport.

 Peet’s dialog crackles, and her play has its fair share of laughs, but it is the characters she has created that give it life, and under Tyne Rafaeli’s astute direction, performances could not be more compelling, beginning with Gummer’s scrappy, loving, increasingly stressed-out Cyn, forced post-intermission to face the consequences of a decision she believes in her daughter’s best interests, not to mention her own.

A ideally matched Harrison and Heffernan give us Carlin at two very different stages of her life, each as heartbreaking real as the other, and Tilghman is terrific too as a coach for whom the seven years between Acts One and Two have wrought their own unexpected changes.

 Ultimately, however, Our Very Own Carlin McCullough belongs to the dynamic, charismatic Tippett, whose Jay could easily be the sensitive, salt-of-the-earth coach he appears to be, or something less wholesome, pitch-perfect casting by Phyllis Schuringa, CSA, and the reason why I’ll be Hulu-ing the New York stage vet in NBC’s recently cancelled Rise.

 Scenic designer Tim Mackabee merits highest marks for one of the most ingenious sets I’ve seen in a good while, deceptively simple yet capable of transforming from tennis court to kitchen to motel room in mere seconds on the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater stage. Lap Chi Chu’s lighting is once again stunning, Lindsay Jones’s edgy original music and sound design keeps attention high, and Elizabeth Caitlin Ward’s costumes are character-revealing as all fine costumes should be.

Cressa Amundsen is production stage manager. Amy Levinson is dramaturg. Micaela Brinsley is assistant director.

 Edge-of-your-seat gripping from its instantly engrossing start to the poignancy of its stunningly unexpected finish, Our Very Own Carlin McCullough scores a grand slam for the Geffen, and coupled with the equally breathtaking Skeleton Crew at the adjoining Gil Cates Theater, makes for the most electrifying double bill in town.

Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood.
www.geffenplayhouse.com

-Steven Stanley
June 28, 2018
Photos: Chris Whitaker

Tags: Amanda Peet, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mamie Gummer