Four young adult siblings confront their drug-addicted mother to shattering effect in Walking In Space, Gary Michael Kruger’s powerful, fact-based follow-up to his Best-of-2016 winner A Thorn In The Family Paw.

It’s 1972 in suburban Baltimore, years before terms like “staging an intervention” and “going to rehab” came into use, just one reason why it’s taken a decade for the Silberman progeny to finally conclude that enough is enough.

Not that a drug-addled Franny (Kathie Barnes) hasn’t fallen and injured herself more than once before last night’s home accident, but this latest tumble, the result of a failed attempt at changing a lightbulb at 2:00 a.m., is the proverbial last straw, one that has reunited congressional aide Patti (Mary Elisabeth Somers), 25; recent ad agency hire Kirby (Cecil Jennings), 23; college student Matt (Hogan Mason), 20; and high school senior Lori (Liv Denevi), 17, in an effort to finally deal with a problem it’s no longer possible to sweep under the rug.

Now all they have to do is convince Mom to seek professional help, which is why they’ve invited over longtime Silberman family physician Dr. Jerome Collar (David Mingrino) to advise them on possible courses of action.

And given that it’s still a good ten years before the Betty Ford Clinic will change the way we look at drug rehabilitation, pretty much the only option available to the Silberman siblings is a local “loony bin,” albeit one with what Dr. Collar assures them is an excellent drug treatment section.

As to whether they can convince Franny to check herself in voluntarily or have no other choice but to have her committed for endangering a minor living under the same roof, well that will depend on what happens a couple of hours from now when Mom wakes up from her drugged-out stupor.

It’s the kind of setup we’ve seen in more than one theatrical or TV movie, but what distinguishes Kluger’s latest from its predecessors is its absolute ring of truth, based as it is on the playwright’s own childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

Kluger may have changed the gender of two of his siblings, and what transpires in Act Two may be, as he puts it, “mostly fictionalized to make that part of the story fit better on the stage,” but details like the Silbermans’ inability to knock audibly on a door and the way each sibling knows how to push the others’ buttons make it clear that Kluger knows of what he writes.

Not only that, but an Act Two twist takes Walking In Space in directions I doubt anyone in the audience will see coming.

Returning to helm Kluger’s latest is Arden Teresa Lewis, once again directing with sensitivity and finesse, eliciting Grade-A performances from a hand-picked cast.

The equally pitch-perfect Somers, Jennings, and Mason not only create distinct, fully three-dimensional characters, but convince audiences they’ve been spending their whole lives together, and Denevi is particularly memorable as a teenager forced into adult responsibilities as the only sibling left behind.

Andrew Cereghino is terrific too as Keith, the high school hottie Patti can’t seem to get over, and Mingrino gives Dr. Collar both warmth and gravitas.

Last but not least, and in just two scenes, a devastatingly real Barnes creates two distinct Frannys, one zoned out of her mind, the other clinging to a precarious, long-forgotten sobriety.

The Theatre West World Premiere benefits enormously from Ernest McDaniel’s minutely detailed mid-20th-century suburban living room-and-kitchen set, Malcolm Wilson’s expert lighting, Lewis’s 1970s-evoking costumes, and Kluger’s oldies-but-goodies-infused musical underscoring.

Indeed about the only suggestion I might offer the writer would be a judicious ten-to-fifteen-minute trim.

Walking In Space is Produced by Meg Lin in association with Theatre West. McDaniel and Kluger are associate producers.

Dillon Mount is stage manager, Amelia Vargas is assistant to the director and assistant stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

In reviewing A Thorn In The Family back in 2016, I wrote, “Kluger’s characters have such a ring of truth, you’d swear A Thorn In The Family Paw must be autobiographical, though it’s not.”

This time round, Walking In Space is indeed based on events in its playwright’s life, which makes its own ring of truth all the more potent and real.

Gripping and gut-punching (with bursts of laughter sprinkled in along the way), Garry Michael Kluger’s latest is Theatre West at its very best.

Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles.
www.theatrewest.org

–Steven Stanley
September 8, 2023
Photos: Garry Michael Kluger

Tags: Garry Michael Kluger, Los Angeles Theater Review, Theatre West