Dynamic Duos Double Bill

The Audit by Lynda Crawford
Directed by Leigh Selting

Sam (Joel Ripka) is a struggling musician, an almost middle-aged hippie who scrapes by. The apartment is a mess and smells of pot.  His “studio” is set up in the kitchen. Sam’s cat, Buddy, needs an expensive operation he can’t afford. That a girlfriend calls with the news while he’s being audited by the IRS compounds the situation.

It’s not as if the examination is unexpected, yet Sam’s done nothing to gather receipts. The few he finds are crumpled in receptacles invisibly marked “someday.” He’s disorganized and evasive; incredulous anyone would take a job with the IRS. The musician keeps breaking into ad-libbed songs to lighten the meeting. (Nifty.) He has charm.

Assigned auditor, Edie (Disnie Sebastien), is tightly wound. It comes out that she’s an army veteran with four tours in the Middle East. (Sam didn’t serve but lost a brother in Vietnam.) At present, she’s too unstable to take care of her daughter. Both she and Sam have tragedy in their backgrounds. (Too similar.) They bond.

That deeply personal stories are shared is unlikely, but worthy fodder for drama. That an expeditious deal is made about taxes without ANY securing of numbers (of which he ostensibly will pay a percentage) is ridiculous.

Joel Ripka is credibly loosey goosey with a dash of scared rabbit. Characterization is grounded. The actor is a good musician. Unfortunately, Disnie Sebastien speaks lines stiffly, but without gravitas. She seems not to know Edie. We see no thought, no distress. Not weighing in harms the two-hander.

Direction (Lynda Crawford) is fluid and realistic. Original music (Jon Pierson) is neither melodic nor poetic. Familiar music is very well chosen.

The American Dream by Juan Ramirez Jr.
Directed by Maria Mileaf

Efron (Juan Ramirez, Jr.) pushes Corina (Libe Barer) into a room with multiple locks. He sits on the only chair at a small table on which there’s a tiny portable TV which vacillates – sometimes by hitting it – between election news centering on migrants and “the game.” Soccer, one presumes. Corina is told to “get inside” a box – opened flat on the floor.

They’re both Ecuadorian and are speaking Spanish we hear as English. (The two have a song in common eliciting recognition.) Efron is a migrant smuggler. When everyone else is let out of transport, Corina is held. Only half her fee has been paid. If her boyfriend doesn’t come up with the rest by a deadline, she’ll be shot or left out in the desert. Her captor alerts the young woman of passing time.

Efron is brutish and somewhat petulant. Corina is smart and educated.  She repeatedly fixes the TV. At first she seems sure the money will come through, later not so much. She shares dreams of life in New York in hopes of creating empathy. Then tricks get more clever. Tension rises on both sides. Lies dissipate. Efron is ultimately responsible for securing the money. He also feels threatened. An unconvincing secret changes dynamics.

Dialogue is believable and sympathetic, characters well developed. The play’s arc is skilled. Anxiety is sustained. That Efron blames the United States for both their plights is barely touched upon. A missed opportunity. Only what the two unwittingly have in common stretches credibility.

There’s a shot almost at the end of the play that makes no sense. Neither protagonist seems to have suffered a bullet. The gun is not aimed. A mistake?

Both actors carry their weight. Chemistry is splendid.

Director Maria Mileaf understands that less is more. Except that I’d think Corina would tire and sit more, what we see works. A brief fight (David Anzuelo, fight director) is well manifest.

Elena Vannoni’s costumes fit the characters to a T. Love Sam’s socks, Efron’s dirty, worn apparel.

Photos by Russ Rowland

Urban Stages presents
Dynamic Duos Double Bill
The Audit by Lynda Crawford
The American Dream by Juan Ramirez

Through March 16, 2025
Urban Stages 
259 West 30 Street