Exit, Pursued by a Bear @ convergence-continuum

​I have a complicated history with Exit, Pursued by a Bear by Lauren Gunderson, on stage now at convergence-continuum. The moment I saw the title in the season line up, I approached director Kate Smith and solemnly declared my intentions: I want to be the bear. She touched my shoulder tenderly and said with such compassion, "I am so sorry. There is no bear." I was crushed. My dream role, so soon gone. But I reluctantly dragged myself to see this bear-less show opening week, and let me tell you - I barely noticed there was no bear amidst the carefully constructed and decorated set, the well-portrayed feminist and pro-queer overtones in a rural Southern setting, and the sweet, sweet vengeance. 

Exit, Pursued by a Bear may draw its title inspiration from the sometimes drab and difficult to comprehend Shakespeare (don't @ me), but con-con's production of the show is neither - its clever staging and quick wit make for a delightful evening of tasty revenge and heartfelt friendship. Move over, 'Goodbye, Earl.'

A frequent patron of con-con, I am used to their commitment to totally transforming their space with every production, moving the audience seating to various positions and playing with their small but versatile black box to make sets come to life. I truly gasped when I entered the theatre to see how intricate the playspace was for this show! From a sweetly crocheted blanket adorning the couch to a Billy Big Mouth Bass and (real?) deer head on the wall, I honestly felt I had walked into the home of one of my rural Ohio extended family. I could almost feel the sticky, hot summer air amidst the inexplicable knick-knacks you find in real homes, the worn-looking linoleum, the earthy wood flooring. There were even the clashing colors that would never make it into Better Homes and Garden - the odd shade of beige, the 60's green that never got painted over, the questionable teal - every color more gross than the one before. I am wholly obsessed with this set - can you tell? I'm a sucker for detail, and was delighted to be able to walk through the set on the way to my seat and look around at all of the little pieces that make this (theatre) house a home.

The costuming needs were simple but the execution was thoughtful, featuring tie-front shirts and denim for the women, Simon in his hilarious cheerleading uniform (which Zavier honestly has the legs for), and a wrinkled collared shirt, messy jeans, and work boots for Kyle. The TV projection work, especially the bear PowerPoint, was a great visual complement to the action. The musical selections were perfection from start to finish, from pre-show music, to an early-2000s 'We Built This City' Nokia ringtone for Nan that made me cackle every time it rang, to the ending karaoke number. The main sound effect, though, was the 'DING' that would be heard throughout the piece to signify a stage direction adorning the home's big screen TV (another hallmark of a rural home!), a character's aside, or a memory. Director Kate Smith had a challenge to overcome with the playwright's interesting request for specific stage directions to be shown on a screen or projector, and I appreciated with a chuckle the choice to put them inside the speech bubbles of none other than the creepy deer head. The title of the show is itself a stage direction, and projecting some key ones is a clever nod to that. Working them into the set helped ground them in the play's action. And honestly, as an actor and playwright myself who takes delight in clever stage directions, some of them were truly laughable and added to the play's humor - for example, "Sweetheart starts placing venison steaks all around Kyle in a little meat fort."

Theatre folk will appreciate the nods to our kind throughout the play, far past the play's title. Simon's, "so this is theatre with an -r-e?" The recounting of memories as scenes. Nan's soliloquy and Kyle's reluctant one. The breaking of the fourth wall. Sweetheart's over-preparation for her scene. Sweetheart calling Kyle a scene hog. Pretty much the entirety of Sweetheart, actually. 

Nan, played by Amanda Rowe-Van Allen, is the conflicted leader of the scenes that unfold. She tells Kyle, played by Casey McCann, with the perfect amount of shut-up-and-listen: "first thing, honey - you've been recast," revealing Sweetheart, her partner in literal crime, stripper, and aspiring actress. Hayley Johnson was especially enjoyable in this role, playing Sweetheart as a little spacey with a whole lot of love for her friend Nan. Rounding out the cast hilariously is Zavier McClean playing Nan's longtime friend Simon, her figurative and literal cheerleader, Zavier bursting on stage in a tiny red skirt with a pom-pom. The cast was truly delightful and there was something delicious about Amanda and Hayley, who I know to be two strong women in real life, playing the roles of strong women on stage. 

Amanda plays Nan as a woman not naturally driven to vengeance, but spurred on by her supportive friends and her own wit's ends. Her obsession with Jimmy Carter, with whom she shares a last name and wishes had been her father, was endearingly bizarre. It made me wonder what kind of father Nan did have to wish so fervently for a different one. Was a broken relationship with her father what led her into the arms of the far-from-perfect Kyle? My heart broke when Nan said, "I married a man I thought was gonna be good. He wasn't." Me too, Nan. Amanda's Nan was broke, stuck, scared, and mad, and it became clear how she had been driven to this point of... well, madness. And what is madness, if not covering a man in his own illegally caught venison to be eaten alive by a bear?

Nan may not know how to pick a man but she knows how to pick her friends - and to accept them for who they are. In the end, their love in return is what gives her courage to heal.

Hayley's Sweetheart stole my heart with her overacting (Sweetheart's - not Hayley's!), her adorable spaciness, and her thoughtful furrowed brow as she weighed how to best support her new friend. Sweetheart found not only intrigue in Nan, but acceptance for who she is - a stripper - where she more often encounters judgment. Hayley made this tenderness come alive for me. Hayley demonstrated a quality I really admire in actors - an expressive listening even when in the background. Not once when I looked at her was she disengaged with a scene, even if she was outside of the action. And, I have to give props to Hayley's Jimmy Carter impression and the hilarious, dramatic floor rolls during her floor scene with Zavier. I laughed so hard during those I had a coughing fit. 

Similarly to Sweetheart, Zavier's Simon found love and acceptance with his friend Nan as part of his coming out journey. I liked Simon immediately and guffawed at many of his lines ("you said you needed support! this is a supportive outfit!" "your outfit is perfect" "I know"), helped along tremendously by Zavier's delivery. Simon may have been written as a stereotypical Gay Best Friend, but Zavier played him as nuanced and layered. His quick wit and silliness provided necessary humor to this self-proclaimed 'dark comedy.' Notable were Simon's lipsync along with "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis and his thoughts on how many scoops of ice cream Nan should eat ("girl, that is not sorbet"), 

And then there was Kyle. Oh, Kyle. Casey seemed to really enjoy playing villain (same, Casey). Kyle, either himself or through Hayley playing him, made the audience cringe in how he spoke about women and about his wife in particular. Kyle's toxic masculinity was off-putting enough to make you root hard and unequivocally for Nan, and frankly, the bear. Having just seen Barbie in theaters for a second time, I wondered if Kyle would benefit from a Kenough hoodie - Kylenough? I enjoyed the genuine horror on Casey's face as Sweetheart's monologue revealed the women's sinister plan. I have to say, I was surprised at the Kyle who appeared in flashbacks to his and Nan's courtship. This Kyle was played by Casey as nervous, awkward, and conscious of his mis-stepping. I, too, have had first, second, tenth dates with men where they are much more gentle and kind, before they settle into the new relationship and show their true colors. What happens to you, men?

A lot of lines in Gunderson's play made me want to give pretentious little snaps - with apologies to the cast for the times I couldn't stop myself and actually did. One I furiously scribbled down made me want to cheer - "I plan to repopulate the world with gentlemen - kind, well-toned, generous boys who are raised as feminists" explained Nan to Kyle after revealing her pregnancy, a baby she did not plan to raise with him even if the bear didn't eat him alive. The line, "for all the women around the world who swallow panic every day," created a hard knot in my throat. The simulated violence with Sweetheart's portrayal of Kyle was enough for me - the slap, the forcing of Nan's head to the deer carcass, and not to mention the verbal and emotional abuse we saw first hand.

I enjoyed the through line of animals throughout the show: the deer carcass, the deer on the wall, the animals slideshow, the bear, of course the bear, and Penguin, Kyle's not-so-sweet and possibly fatphobic nickname for Nan. One instance of his nickname for her is met with a retort from Nan - "oh! Emperor penguins find a new mate every season." I think it's a new season, Kyle, buddy. And no, naysayers of the script, it's not as easy as 'just leaving'. Look up a thing or two about domestic violence. Sometimes feeding your abusive partner alive to a bear IS the only option. As Nan says, "baby, we're all animals, and we're all wild."

A final nod to the projections team - the well-spliced Anderson Cooper 360 episode featuring Nan was an excellent penultimate scene for the show, where Nan reveals some key things: that the bear did not succeed, Kyle lives, her son she is presumably raising with Simon is named, of course, Jimmy, and her book about her ordeal? It's titled 'Nature's Calling.' She is Nan Carter and she is alive in this wide world, and, as Jimmy Carter said, making "the days of our children better than our own."

Nan and Jimmy close by saying together, "I will do my best, but not on my own."

You sure weren't on your own, Nan.

The final scene, a karaoke number sung by Nan, Sweetheart, and Simon, has fitting lyrics to wrap up the play's centeredness on friendship: "and if this world runs out of lovers, we'll still have each other."

Exit, Pursued by a Bear, runs through September 2 at convergence-continuum. 

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Fun fact: there is also a young adult fiction book by E.K. Johnston called 'Exit, Pursued by a Bear' written in 2016, four years after Gunderson's play, in which a high school cheerleader named Hermione Winters is drugged and raped and becomes pregnant. The log line for the book ends, "she won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale." Seeing some through lines here...