THE ALLSTORE


Life is a living hell for the minimum-wagers staffing The AllStore in Evan Marshall’s pitch-black, trigger warning-packed, frequently hilarious counterpoint to ABC TV’s feel-good Superstore, now getting its World Premiere at Theatre of NOTE.

You may think your job is bad, but it’s but it’s probably not nearly as soul-draining as working at The AllStore under store manager Blake’s (Joseph Bricker) reign of terror.

Not that Blake has all that much to work with, from his point of view at least.

Take aspiring cage fighter Andrea (Lillie Silva-Muir), whose response upon learning that 9% of store guests leave emptyhanded because “they couldn’t get help finding what they were looking for” is a snarky “Sounds like natural selection to me.”

Or Dan (swing Henry Cruz going on for Joshua Gill), a slacker with a racist streak where “old Asian women” customers are concerned.

Or Jules (Mario Eduardo), who’s on a perpetual high from the weed he surreptitiously vapes on a daily basis.

Or Oliver (Phil Ward), who at age 67 is unlikely ever to get the extra shifts he’s desperate for because, as Blake puts it, “We just want to be careful not to tire you out.”

Or Petra (Arriana Evangelia), who as far as Blake is concerned seems more interested in her college classes than in adhering to the schedule he’s assigned her, and it doesn’t help that she’s so into Andrea that she hasn’t the slightest interest in her male boss.

At least Rogene (Sarah Lilly) has learned in her nineteen years at The AllStore not to rock the boat, especially when the captain of the ship is a self-important, power-abusing, predatory, ageist, sexist asshole like Blake.

Caught in the middle of all this is Melissa from HR (Julie Lanctot), whose thankless job it is to listen to employee complaints knowing full well that she can’t do a thing about them.

Such is the status quo until  Blake promotes Petra to Temporary Floor Manager on condition she complete eight one-on-one off-hours training shifts under his personal tutelage. (Yech, right?)

Add to this a violent encounter between Blake’s identical-twin cop brother Blair (Bricker) and a schizophrenic homeless customer named Nathan (Lynn Odell), the sacking of one of the previously mentioned employees for theft, and the curious fact that at least one store worker’s credit rating has gone from “basically perfect my whole life” to virtually non-existent for no apparent reason … and you’ve got a recipe for mutiny at its most violent.

If it’s not already obvious, The AllStore’s look at hot-button workplace issues could not be more of-the-moment, and for the most part it succeeds at what it sets out to do.

I say “for the most part” because Marshall’s decision to have characters suddenly burst into Shakespearean-style verse is likely to be a divisive one. (Though I have my own theory about why he’s done this, I remain on the fence about its effectiveness.)

What audiences are more certain to agree on is just how electrifying the Theatre of NOTE year-opener is under Maddie Downes’s incisive direction.

Evangelia delivers a breakout star turn as Petra, and never more so than when in Shakespearean mode, a dynamite Silva-Muir digs deep beneath Andrea’s tough-as-nails exterior, Bricker is horrifically sleazy as both Blake and Blair, and Lanctot is terrific as the well-meaning but sadly ineffectual Melissa.

Cruz, Eduardo, Lily, Ward, and a gender-bending, shape-shifting Odell, who doubles scarily as The Founder, do bang-up work as well.

Colin Lawrence has designed a sleek multi-locale set in shades of blue with touches of yellow and white (and jam-packed with store-brand products) to match costume designer Shaunte Williams’s matching store-color uniforms, all of this lit with dramatic pizzazz by Matt Richter and underscored by Erin Bednarz’s edgy, suspense-enhancing, dance-club-infused sound design.

Last but not least, Jen Albert’s fight choreography may well the most call-911-realistic stage violence you’ll see all year.

The AllStore is produced for Theatre of NOTE by lead producer Roni Paige, producer Bricker, and associate producers Chritopher Cid, Jack Clevenger, Noah Duncan, and Mikah Kavita.

Cid is assistant director. Em Perez is stage manager. Melissa McNamara is intimacy coordinator.

Kavita alternates with Silva-Muir as Andrea and Dan Wingard alternates with Ward as Oliver. Andi Star, Chloe Madriaga, and Marshall are swings.

This past fall’s award-winning Kill Shelter set the bar high for future Theater Of NOTE productions. The AllStore may not match that play’s gut-wrenching perfection, but believe me. It smacks you with one hell of a wallop.

Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga, Hollywood.
www.theatreofnote.com

–Steven Stanley
March 22, 2024

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

 

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