“Distracted”
Mark Taper Forum
March 15-April 29
Sometimes it feels like we live in a hectic world where you can’t relax or focus no matter what you try.
Our government warns of Doomsday terrorist plots in major cities; apparently, the planet is being destroyed with every light bulb we use; and each day, soldiers continue to die fighting for what seems to be a lost cause.
Lisa Loomer’s new play, “Distracted,” which runs at the Mark Taper Forum until April 29, delves into this confused, busy world of 2007 by engaging in a debate on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the controversial treatment options available to coping parents.
The play is about an elementary schoolboy, Jesse (Hudson Thames), and his parents Mama (Rita Wilson) and Dad (Ray Porter), who struggle to manage his outbursts at home and in class.
The production gets off to a quick start once Jesse commences with his shrieking, swearing, and unquestionably irritating and disrespectful dialogue towards his parents.
In the first act, Wilson’s character visits every specialist conceivable including a homeopathic psychiatrist, a psychologist, and an allergist. She is not given satisfactory answers to quell the criticisms from Jesse’s schoolteacher.
The neighborhood women are more than happy to share their insider knowledge of drugs, doctors, and treatments, but nothing works for Jesse. At the conclusion of the first half, Mama must ask if Ritalin would be a better mother than her.
Though the audience wants to yell, “No!”, she keeps an open and optimistic mind to the situation and decides to medicate Jesse. From there, things only get worse for Jesse and the audience. The play’s action slows while Jesse is subject to a number of drugs before ending up in a New Mexico treatment clinic specializing in dietary adjustments for ADHD.
The play’s ending is a little too sunny given the previous two hours. It is as if Loomer had explored and criticized the drugs she disliked the most and decided to end on a happier, more holistic yet slightly unsatisfying note.
Loomer’s script cleverly addresses ADHD on many levels; the audience hears 8-year-old Jesse throw fits over sugary foods and video games while Wilson’s character likens his ADHD to Bush’s presidential blunders.
She compares her son’s lying and over-exaggerations ““ both noted as ADHD symptoms ““ to Bush’s false WMD scare and Saddam-terrorism connections.
While the White House’s tactics and policies should be criticized in the theatrical arts, the Bush-bashing chatter became something of a distraction in itself.
“Distracted” is carried almost exclusively by the strong and disciplined Wilson, who is on stage for every minute of the play. She creates a character who is sympathetic and humorous.
While the audience may fail to connect to the frustrated teacher with a class of 27 or the husband who threatens divorce over ADHD medications, Wilson’s character directly addresses the audience and elicits both laughs and compassion throughout the production.
One very smart element of the production is the lightning fast scene and dialogue changes that seem to mimic mouse clicks changing Internet pages. While the scene changes are an obvious dramatization of reality, the production makes you wonder if perhaps we do move with the same speed as Verizon High Speed DSL.
The set design features three television panels that, before the show and during intermission, play clips from the war in Iraq, music videos, “American Idol,” and sitcoms in increasingly rapid succession. It is a dizzying look at the media-controlled world of today.
While the scene changes are an exaggeration, the television projections are not. We are bombarded by Simon Cowell, Anderson Cooper, and “Friends” every day to the point that it seems absolutely impossible to fully escape the voices inside our heads.
While Loomer’s play should be appreciated for its social and temporal awareness, one has to wonder if the message is lost on the audience who turns their cell phones back on before even exiting the theater.
Perhaps Loomer is right; maybe the entire world should be classified as having symptoms of ADHD.
And if we all have ADHD, maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. As the Dad character says, if everyone with the disorder had been medicated into compliance, perhaps there would have been no Edison, Einstein, American colonist rebels and most importantly, no John Belushi.