JACK CRADDOCK IS HAVING A PARTY


Actor Harrison Harvey proves himself an accomplished first-time playwright with Jack Craddock Is Having A Party, an incisive, insightful look at three Millennials and a Zoomer, ninety real-time minutes that start out bright and breezy, then gradually darken as lies get exposed and secrets revealed.

We first meet roommates Mary Catherine (Sally Hughes) and Alexandra (Morgan Thompson) in the midst of packing up their belongings to move from the Austin apartment they’ve been sharing with the recently departed Emily Ann to a smaller flat just right for two.

Joining them mid-packing is Tripp (Eric Patrick Harper), not only their close chum since the threesome studied at the University of Texas a decade earlier, but MC’s onetime boyfriend, then fiancé, until his sudden coming out led to a canceled wedding (though not to an end of his friendship with Mary Catherine or Alexandra).

Adding friction and a taste of Gen Z to tonight’s mix is Sage (Andy Schirrmeister), a 22-year-old undergrad whom Tripp has invited to join him at MC and Alex’s for the first part of a first date, though truth be told, Tripp has no clue if Sage is even gay.

As for the titular Jack Craddock, part of their friend circle at UT Austin (and Tripp’s best friend/college roommate), well he’s nowhere to be seen, having abruptly packed his bags several months earlier and headed off to Thailand for reasons left unstated and still unknown, and there’s been no word from the world traveler since.

Or at least not until tonight, when Jack texts Mary Catherine to inform her that he’s back in Austin and having people over at his parents’ house before moving to Denver tomorrow.

The trouble is, only Mary Catherine has gotten an invite, for reasons Alexandra and Tripp can only guess at.

What prompted Jack to hightail it off to Thailand with no explanation for his sudden departure? How long will it take Alexandra to inform her roommate that she’ll be leaving their new apartment in just three months to begin law school in New York? And how did bloody handprints end up on MC’s and Alex’s walls?

These are just some of the riddles that kept me guessing over the course of Jack Craddock Is Having A Party’s ninety uninterrupted minutes.

This may be Harrison Harvey’s first play, but its tight structure, authentic dialog, and believable, complex characters make it a winner, plusses made even stronger by Rachel McBath’s razor-sharp direction and four pitch-perfect performances that segue seamlessly from edgy comedy to compelling drama.

Hughes does terrific, multifaceted work as a woman who abandoned her career dreams only to see them dashed by the man she gave them up them for, and Thompson gives as good as she gets as a sassy dynamo whose party-girl façade hides emotional scars.

Harper’s Tripp is as charismatic and engaging as he is a screwed-up mess (though perhaps no more so than MC and Alex), and Schirrmeister’s crop-topped Sage is a trippy dippy delight, a Zoomer who travels to the beat of his own druggy drum.

The Moving Arts Theatre stage proves an ideal fit for Harvey’s World Premiere play, needing only a coat of paint and assorted furniture pieces and props to make for a creditable scenic design, and Justin Huen’s sound and lighting designs are as always topnotch.

Temple Baker is heard but not seen in a climactic voice cameo. Ken Werther is publicist.

You’d never guess that Jack Craddock Is Having A Party is Harrison Harvey’s first time out as a playwright, so adept is his writing and so fully realized are the characters he’s created. Its target audience may skew considerably younger than this reviewer, but even Boomers will cheer Jack Craddock’s arrival (even if we never make it to his party).

Moving Arts Theatre, 3191 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jack-craddock-is-having-a-party-tickets-594979719357

–Steven Stanley
May 12, 2023
Photos: Jordan Geiger

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