The “Glitch” is on at the Fringe

By Ernest Kearney  —  There is some solid writing in Playwright/Director Travis Snyder-Eaton’s Glitch, a two-person play about Rachel, a journalist (Gemma Pilar Alfaro), who is interviewing Jonathan, a convicted spree killer (Jordan Klomp).

That writing bubbles up in the occasional line:

Rachel: Where did your interest in guns come from?

Jonathan: America.

Jonathan: It’s not education if you’re only learning obedience.

Gemma Pilar Alfaro in “Glitch” during Fringe Festival 2018

But these intermittent gems cannot assuage the overall dynamics that just ring false from beginning to end.

This is a big story, the killer’s first interview in six years that the program notes describe as “the opportunity of a lifetime.”  An editor would assign his best reporter and that reporter’s entire focus would be on getting the “story,” regardless of whatever repulsion she might feel towards the man she was to interview.  Look at the classic Playboy magazine interview of American Nazi leader Lincoln Rockwell by Alex Haley.

But Alfaro’s reporter is argumentative and antagonistic towards her subject, something a professional reporter would never be.

Jordan Klomp in “Glitch,” at Hollywood Fringe 2018

Klomp gives a full out and — at times — very effective performance, but still the situation the playwright has placed him in lacks truthfulness.  Klomp rages about the stage, demonstrating a freedom of movement that an inmate in maximum security would never be allowed.

Granted, for the purposes of the drama this point could be dispensed with, but you still need justification for it being overlooked within the script.

Glitch jumps on the bloodied and slippery bandwagon that has grimly been crisscrossing this nation since August 1, 1966 when Charles Whitman killed 16 people (*   *)  at the University of Texas, shifted gears with Columbine in 1999 and sadly seems to have been accelerating, even more, recently.

bronze ribbon - Fringe FestivalIt is a grisly phenomenon that deserves a probing, insightful investigation, but it hasn’t received one here.

Snyder-Eaton has penned a strong role in the character of Jonathan the killer and Klomp gives a performance equal to the challenge, but Snyder-Eaton’s success in this part was achieved at the cost of the overall work and for this a BRONZE MEDAL for Glitch.

(NOTE:  *  * A final victim—raising the total to 17—died several years later, due to wounds sustained at the shooting.)

♦     ♦     ♦

Glitch

By Travis Snyder-Eaton

is playing during

The Hollywood Fringe 2018

at

The Broadwater

1078 Lillian Way

For Show Information and Tickets Go To:  http://hff18.org/5273


Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter @theTVolution

Please Subscribe to our Newsletter

(Box on the Left Rail)

We Thank You for Supporting the Voices of TheTVolution

Written by

An award-winning L.A. playwright and rabble-rouser of note who has hoisted glasses with Orson Welles, been arrested on three continents and once beat up Charlie Manson. His first play, "Among the Vipers" was a semi-finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition and was featured in the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. It was produced at the NPT Theater in Ashland, Oregon and Los Angeles’ celebrated Odyssey Ensemble Theatre. His following play, “The Little Boy Who Loved Monsters” was produced at The Hollywood Actors Theater, where he earned praise from the Los Angeles Times for his “…inordinately creative writing.” The play went on to numerous other productions including Berlin’s The Black Theatre under the direction of Rainer Fassbinder who wrote in his program notes of Kearney, “He is a skilled playwright, but more importantly he is a dangerous one.” Ernest Kearney has worked as literary manager or as dramaturge for among others The Hudson Theater Guild, Nova Diem and the Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, where he still serves on the play selection committee. He has been the recipient of two Dramalogue Awards and a finalist or semi-finalist, three times, in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition. His work has been performed by Michael Dunn, Sandra Tsing Loh, Jack Colvin and Billy Bob Thornton, and to date, either as playwright or director, he has upwards of a hundred and thirty productions under his belt, including a few at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater as puppeteer. Kearney remains focused on his writing, as well as living happily ever after with his lovely wife Marlene. His stage reviews and social essays can be found at TheTVolution.com and workingauthor.com. Follow him on Facebook.

No comments

LEAVE A COMMENT

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.