Sunday, August 4, 1996
Play comes off as amusing despite predictable rolesBy Michelle
Nguyen
Summer Bruin Contributor
Generation X can be a tiresome subject.
Although the play "Suburbia" does not have a fresh take on those
labeled under that ugly phrase "Generation X," it does provide
likeable and entertaining characters. It recalls the movie "Dazed
and Confused," whose stereotypical roles did not prevent the film
from being enjoyable.
These characters all do the same thing that anyone living in
Burnfield, USA would do. They hang out behind the 7-Eleven all day
 smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and talking about what old
high school classmates are doing.
The characters are very typical. Buff (Jason Peck) is a skater
who enjoys talking about sex, smoking pot and drinking beer when he
is not having sex, smoking pot or drinking beer.
Jeff, his opposite, is constantly "trying to rethink his value
system." He talks about the void in his life and how he wants to
"make something that will shatter the world." Alex Fox makes Jeff
likable as the guy who thinks too much and talks too much.
Sooze (Holly Gleason) is Jeff’s girlfriend, the feminist who
does performance art on the "dialectical exposition of
testosterone" which she calls the "Burger Manifesto." You start to
like Sooze’s sass and strong, optimistic attitude until you find
out that she is as star struck with Pony, a
classmate-turned-rock-star, as anyone who lives in a no-name suburb
would be. Sooze’s friend Bee-Bee (Pam Cook) is the recovering
alcoholic who feels there is no purpose to life.
Tim (Jeff Wiens) is the hardened and bitter asshole who resents
the Indian 7-Eleven owners because of their ethnicity. He breaks
the mold of the typical ’90s cynic, however, when he reveals his
vulnerabilities. Tensions rise when Pony (Charles Hess) comes to
visit them all at the 7-Eleven, which is the focus of the play.
These are characters that many college students know very
well.
We have friends that are like them, we have seen them, or we are
them in some way or another. That is why it can be mildly
interesting to watch the characters play out their day-to-day lives
in Burnfield, USA. Many people are products of a similar Burnfield,
USA, and can relate to the apathy, fears and attitude of Tim,
Sooze, Buff, Jeff and Bee-Bee.
But that can be the exact reason why "Suburbia" can be
uninteresting. If people are living "Burnfield, USA," why would
they want to watch something identical?
Moreover, "Suburbia" does not dig any deeper to examine the
phenomenon of why so many twenty-somethings are feeling so lost in
a country where suburban wastelands are a fact of life, which makes
the play an ordinary one that falls in with the ranks of "Reality
Bites."
The actions of the characters are extremely predictable, but
they are played out by credible actors who make them likable. Many
of their fast-paced, scattered conversations are quite entertaining
and funny. The characters’ stereotypical personality quirks provide
numerous highlights for the play.
The play’s lack of depth is shown when the characters attempt to
have "deep" conversations which end up being nothing more than
stale, politically correct drivel.
The play was very enjoyable on the surface level of hipness in
the same way that radio pop songs can be enjoyable. But do not walk
into the play looking for any fresh analysis on the suburbia
phenomenon.
STAGE: "Suburbia" is at the Namaste Theatre through Aug. 18.
Tickets are $15. For more info. call (213) 466-1767.
Jeff (Alex Fox), Buff (Jason Peck) and Tim (Jeff Wiens) ponder
life, the universe and everything else at the corner 7-Eleven in
"Suburbia," at the Namaste Theatre.