Daniel MacIvor’s unique gifts are on display in Open Fist Theatre Company’s The Soldier Dreams and Never Swim Alone, best seen as an evening double feature to fully appreciate the Canadian playwright at his most rule-breaking and rewarding.

First staged in 1997, a mere two years after protease inhibitors signaled the end of AIDS as a certain death sentence, The Soldier Dreams serves as a reminder that for over a decade, men like David (David Shofner) were not so fortunate.

Hardly the downer that its subject matter might suggest, MacIvor’s 65-minute gem offers considerably more laughter than tears as it zigzags back and forth in time from the bed where David lies nearly comatose to a chance encounter some years before.

Fourth-wall-breaking monologs allow David’s sisters Tish (Amy Moorman) and Judy (Stephanie Crothers), his brother-in-law Sam (Casey Sullivan), and longtime companion Richard (Conor Lane) to reflect on their relationship with the man they are about to lose, whose only words these days are an occasionally muttered “Ottawa” and “matchbook.”

Meanwhile, flashbacks recall a flirty back-and-forth between David and a visiting medical student from Hamburg (Schuyler Mastain), just one example of his and Richard’s tacitly open relationship.

Impeccably directed by Amanda Weier and superbly acted by Crothers, Lane, Mastain, Moorman, Shofner, and Sullivan (with cameos by Carmella Jenkins and Ethan Niven), The Soldier Dreams (a rarely staged companion piece to The Normal Heart, As Is, and Angels In America) ends on a note of transcendent joy that makes it truly one of a kind.

And speaking of unique, Never Swim Alone is all that and more.

Brief enough at thirty-five minutes to more than merit catching just after The Soldier Dreams on Saturdays (or just before on Sundays), MacIvor’s 1991 one-act treats audiences to two of the year’s most dazzling performances.

Under Weier’s once again remarkable direction, Bryan Bertone and Dylan Maddalena star as Frank and Bill, a pair of business exec types engaged in a twelve-round bout (refereed from a lifeguard’s chair by a significantly younger Emma Bruno), a battle of macho one-upmanship at the end of which only one combatant may be left standing.

If this sounds more than a tad “experimental theater,” it is, but even those averse to the avant-garde will likely find themselves captivated as Bertone and Maddalena give new meaning to rapid-fire, spouting long stretches of identical lines in perfect sync, just one of the ways playwright MacIvor challenges them as few acting duos have been challenged before.

As the two men compete for victory (including a literal pissing contest and an exhausting knock-down drag-out that showcases Bruno’s gut-punching fight choreography), mentions are made of a late-summer swimming race from beach across bay to a point somewhere in the distance, a competition whose significance (like that of David’s “Ottawa” and “matchbook”) will eventually be revealed to stunning effect.

Longtime Open Fist members Bertone and Maddalena deliver breathtakingly tour-de-force performances, with a just-right Bruno demonstrating how much of acting involves active listening.

Scenic designer Jan Munroe keeps things simple but effective, his two sets dominated by (respectively) a bed and a lifeguard’s chair, giving lighting designer Matt Richter and sound designer Mia Glenn-Schuster ample opportunities to shine, with Mylette Nora’s costumes and Bruce Dickenson’s properties (all of them pitch-perfect) completing the production design mix.

The Soldier Dreams and Never Swim along are produced by Martha Demson, Jenkins, and Shofner. Jennifer Palumbo is production stage manager. Hayden Kirschbaum is assistant lighting designer. The production features an original composition by Stephen Ridley. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Stevie-Jean Placek and Scott Roberts alternate as Judy and Sam. Niven understudies the role of Student.

Never Swim Alone had been playing for about a month in March of 2020 as part of Open Fist’s Rorschach Fest when its run, like live theater everywhere, came to an abrupt end. The Soldier Dreams is brand new for 2021. Both plays are must-sees.

Open Fist Theatre Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.openfist.org

–Steven Stanley
November 6, 2021
Photos: Frank Ishman

Proof of vaccination will be required of all patrons, and masks required throughout the performance. Admittance is limited to ages 12+. Open Fist Theatre Company ensures that theater ventilation systems are up to the recommended standard for COVID-19 protection. In addition, as long as the rate of COVID transmission in Los Angeles County remains “substantial,” household groups will be separated by six feet on all sides.

Tags: Atwater Village Theatre, Daniel MacIvor, Los Angeles Theater Review, Open Fist Theatre Company