Two talented Jakes make stunning Geffen Playhouse debuts in The Reservoir, Jake Brasch’s hilarious, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful look at alcoholism and Alzheimer’s that has rising star Jake Horowitz standing in for the playwright in one of the year’s most captivating performances.

 Horowitz never once leaves the stage as Josh, back home in Denver on “medical leave” from NYU for reasons that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out given that we first meet the gay, not-yet-old-enough-to-buy-alcohol playwriting major as he awakens on the shore of a local reservoir from a bender that has cut short his latest attempt at sobriety and gotten him kicked out of the sober house where he’s been staying for the past month or so.

 And Josh can forget trying to crash in his childhood home given mom Patricia’s (Marin Hinkle) refusal to share digs with her wastrel son until he has 90 days of sobriety under his belt.

On the plus side, Mom does get him a job at a local independent bookstore, but even alphabetizing proves a challenge for Josh’s booze-addled brain much to the consternation of store manager Hugo (Adrián Gonzalez).

At least Josh still has all four grandparents around to offer him advice and moral support, or at least so he assumes before discovering that his maternal grandmother Irene (Carolyn Mignini) has developed Alzheimer’s and that she and Grandfather Hank (Geoffrey Wade) now reside at an assisted care facility.

Maternal grandmother Bev (Liz Larsen), on the other hand, is still her no-bullshit self, though the same cannot be said for grandpa Shrimpy (Lee Wilkof), whose Alzheimer’s may not be as advanced as Irene’s but does present hurdles to his upcoming second bar mitzvah at age 83.

 With two grandparents already dealing with dementia, and his own brain pretty much shot by too many nights spent plastered, Josh takes it upon himself to heal not only the grandfolks but himself with a combination of diet (plenty of thiamine-rich spinach) and Jazzercize.

And this is just the start of The Reservoir, a memory play told in present tense that takes full advantage of the genre’s ability to play with time and Josh’s imagination in the most entertainingly creative of ways.

Working in tandem with director Shelley Butler, playwright Brasch imagines Josh’s four grandparents as a kind of geriatric Greek chorus throughout the production, seating them upstage on a row of straight-back chairs the better to comment on the action when not stepping down to join in as participants.

 In one extended sequence, Butler and Brasch have the foursome executing choreographed arm and body movements as the “raging river” of Josh’s convoluted train of thoughts while sporting assorted flotation devices, beach balls, and foam water noodles. In another, a cornfield materializes out of nowhere with Nana Irene sporting Nebraska farmer garb.

 Still, as wild and crazy as Brasch’s play can get, he never lets us forget that these are real human beings with real problems and real relationships and real lives, and though on paper at least, Josh might not seem the most sympathetic of lead characters, the supremely likable Horowitz has us rooting for him every step of the way, and aching when, as might be expected, his sobriety proves more easily said than done, and worse still when for some of those nearest and dearest to him, he has irrevocably crossed the line between bad behavior and the unforgivable.

All of this adds up to a major Geffen debut for a young actor whose career has only just begun, and how lucky he is to have been gifted with Larsen (salty, tell-it-like-it-is perfection), Mignini (warmth and love personified), Wade (the very embodiment of Midwest sternness and reserve), and Wilkov (as adorable as he is irascible) as four of the best grandparents ever.

 Last but not least, scene-stealing featured players Gonzalez and Hinkle pop in and out of the action as a hot cop in short shorts, a zazzy Jazzercise instructor, an NYU guidance counselor, Shrimpy’s rabbi, and a half dozen more.

This final leg of The Reservoir’s 3-city World Premiere reunites director Butler with the same design team whose work was showcased first in Denver and soon after in Atlanta, and what a team they are.

 Takeshi Kata’s scenic design may seem simple in the extreme at first glance, but appearances are most definitely deceiving, especially when combined with Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew’s brilliantly theatrical lighting design.

 Josh may sport the same sweater/pants outfit throughout the show as befits a memory play narrator, but the rest of the cast gets to don one after another of Sara Ryung Clement’s terrific designs ranging from AARP staid to Jazzercize wild, and Michael Costagliola’s sound design, original musical soundtrack, and ‘80s pop nostalgia is every bit as sensational.

The Reservoir is presented by Geffen Playhouse in partnership with Denver Center For The Performing Arts and Alliance Theatre.

 Karima Karkori is associate director. Olivia O’Connor is dramaturg. Liz Brohm Hanrahan is production stage manager. Rebecca K. Hsia is assistant stage manager.

Casting is by Grady Soapes, CSA, Jody Feldman, and Phyllis Schuringa, CSA. Marwa Bernstein, Henry LeBlanc, Nancy Linari, and Tirosh Schneider are understudies.

 In the nearly three years since The Inheritance’s event-status two-part West Coast Premiere, I can’t think of another Geffen Playhouse production that has blown me away like The Reservoir. It’s a remarkable piece of writing given a dream of a World Premiere.

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

–Steven Stanley
June 26, 2025
Photos: Jeff Lorch

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Tags: Geffen Playhouse, Jake Brasch, Los Angeles Theater Review