The Scene

I saw a wonderful reading, produced by Amphibian Stage Productions, of Theresa Rebeck’s comedy The Scene at the Modern Art Museum.  From the beginning of the play the audience was laughing, and they kept laughing for most of the play.  That was in part due to the nice performance by Lydia Mackay as Clea, a young woman from Ohio who has newly entered the social scene in New York City.  She meets a couple of old friends, Charlie and Lewis (played by Richard Ercole and Evan Mueller, respectively), at a party and as soon as she starts talking they (and the audience) conclude that she’s ditzy.  Still, she’s good looking and Lewis is interested in dating her, which is the innocent cause of all future troubles.

She tells them about an interview she had with a magazine and complains in fairly rude terms about the woman who interviewed her.  Charlie and Lewis quickly realize she’s talking about Stella, Charlie’s wife (played by Elizabeth Mason).  She talks about how surreal the air and river look from the high-rise where they are and quickly gets into a argument with Charlie over the use of the term “surreal”.   Clea can hardly have a conversation that she doesn’t quickly turn into a defensive argument, primarily because she is so sensitive to the slightest negative vibes from others, real or imagined.  Still, she’s never really embarrassed and always thinks the problem is the attitudes of others, and she doesn’t hesitate to say so.

As empty-headed as Clea seemingly is, what makes the play interesting is how well she gets what she wants.  Men apparently cannot resist her, which makes one wonder who is the most clueless.  By the end of the play she has toyed with and hurt Lewis, had an affair with out-of-work actor Charlie, destroying his 14 year marriage and leaving him homeless, disrupted Stella’s plans to adopt a baby, and landed a job with a TV director who used to be a friend of Charlie’s.

The actors did a really good job with this reading.  Although they had scripts in hand, they knew many of their lines.  The play moved right along, every scene is an essential part of the story, and it’s never boring. If you ever get a chance to see this play, I highly recommend it.

If you’re interested in knowing more details about the play, you can read this review of a NYC production back in January, 2007: “All About Ego, Showbiz, and a Little Black Dress.”