Reapers

By Ed Kaufman, Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Written and directed by American playwright John O'Keefe, "Reapers" (a world premiere at the Odyssey) artfully blends the abrasive theater of Sam Shepard with a fantasy version of Iowa -- wrapped in an edgy, spacey lyricism that confronts all of the beauty, horrors and complexities of the modern world. A brilliant and provocative sort of "Twilight of the Gods" for our own age.

O'Keefe's vision (like his astute direction) is complex, often soaring and searing, sometimes playful and ironic. But its always aware of the natural forces that come into conflict, and this includes people who have lost their collective way and gone astray.

All is set on an Iowa farm (credit Travis Gale Lewis with bare-bones set design, Mike Durst for the effective lighting and Emily Nahm for the costumes), and it's time to store the bales of harvested hay. To get another farmhand, Leonard Fox and son Bruce go to the nearby juvenile hall and get innocent teenager Tom O'Brien (the appealing Eddie Karr) to help them with the harvest for three days.

Only this is no ordinary farm, and this is no ordinary family. They are dysfunctional -- only in a global, cosmic sense. When first we see and hear veteran actor Tom Lillard (writer O'Keefe's updated version of a Greek chorus) we are told about nature as a moving, fitful entity in the lives of us all. And in this case, it's nature that will be avenged against the crazed members of the Fox family who are destined to oblivion.

As the head of the hate-filled, incestuous family, bully Leonard (the expert JD Cullum) is cruel, spiteful, bigoted and, at times, funny. His embittered and lamentable wife, Mildred (Stephanie Feury is first-rate), is a latter-day fury, while their two grown teenage children are the loutish Bruce (a fine portrayal by Alex Garcia) and the wispy Deirdre (the solid Sophie Ullett), who prays for Tinkerbell to carry her away. Finally, there's Leonard's mother, Hulda (a quality performance by Tina Preston), who is a stroke victim and sits mutely in her wheelchair until she decides to scream out in all her scary religious fanaticism.

Ultimately, it's armageddon for the family Fox. Only it's evil versus evil as Leonard and Mildred fight to the death in the barn and the floodwaters rise on Bruce and Deirdre -- more like Gotterdammerung. At least the innocent Tom has gained some worldly experience and can escape the curse of the Foxes.

O'Keefe's message is clear: God gave us every chance to live decent, loving and fulfilled lives. All the Foxes had to do was keep the faith. Only they ignored the word of God, and now (according to the Gospel of O'Keefe), they will have to pay the price.

Cast: Tom O'Brien: Eddie Karr; Joey Beam: Tom Lillard; Mildred Fox: Stephanie Feury; Deirdre Fox: Sophie Ullett; Leonard Fox: JD Cullum; Bruce Fox: Alex Garcia; Hulda Fox: Tina Preston.

Playwright-director: John O'Keefe; Set designer: Travis Gale Lewis; Lighting designer: Mike Durst; Costume designer: Emily Nahm; Sound designer: Kurt Thum.

REAPERS

Iowa-born playwright-director John O'Keefe grew up in orphanages and state juvenile homes, and gives that experience to his hero/surrogate, young Tom (Eddie Karr), who's loaned out by the County Home to the feral Fox family as free labor to help with their haying. Patriarch Leonard Fox (J.D. Cullum) and his son Bruce (Alex Garcia) are willful rogue males, violent and rapacious. For them, every act becomes an assertive male ritual and test of strength. Sly, deviously perverse and murderous, they're also mired in secret incest. Their women, including Leonard's stroke-victim mother, Hulda (Tina Preston), his resentful wife, Mildred (Stephanie Feury), and his pretty, petulant daughter, Deirdre (Sophie Ullett), brood over their hatred of the bullying males, despite secret fondness for the "bad boys." Their neighbor, Joey Beam (Tom Lilliard), serves as chorus, emphasizing lyrical, cosmic overtones. O'Keefe's play evokes other writers, from Sam Shepherd to Eugene O'Neill, but his strange, tormented, quasi-religious vision is very much his own, leading to a shattering finale, swept by literal and emotional tornados. A superb cast richly fleshes out the near flawless staging, while the bleak fragmentary set by Travis Lewis, Emily Nahm's costumes and other technical credits complement O'Keefe's ruthless vision. Odyssey Theater Ensemble, 2055 Sepulveda Blvd., W.L.A.; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. schedule varies; indef. (310) 477-2055. -- Neal Weaver

Reapers

By Jacob Clark, Metro LA

     John O'Keefe is a dramatic poet at the top of his form.   In reapers, his exploration into Iowa farming, tornados and patricide receiving a startling World Premiere at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, fear and pity collide in an organic reworking of ancient Greek themes.

      To write about O'Keefe, one must try, however lamely, to elevate one's language to his level.   His words caress, cajole, assault and run in bleeding retreat to a place where words cannot hide. Metaphor falls as easily from his pen as do pronouns from the rest of ours.   Amazingly, he combines Freudian sexual sensibility with Jungian libidinal archetypes in a highly psychological expurgation of the lust and dark motive underlying family life.

      Travis Gale Lewis's set assaults the senses with the smell of alfalfa hay and earth and the look of some terrible post-storm remains of a gutted house.   Mike Durst's lighting, all straws, ambers and mysterious blues becomes the central scenic element.   Emily Nahm's costumes breathe and reek of the hardship of farming life in contemporary America. The make-up design of Apryl M. Douglas highlights every crag and imperfection in the actors' character-filled faces.

      Like the ancient Greek poets, the author has written and directed his vision of emotional Armageddon, and the style of acting which has emerged can only be described as brutal and Stanislavskian.

       JD Cullum gives the family father, Leonard Fox, a full rendering of tantrums and humor, providing much needed comic relief, particularly in the second Act.   As his son, Bruce Fox, Alex Garcia creates a complex sociopath in the making, but with just a glimmer of what could have been in his tortured, erotic soul.   Together the two are like wolves competing for Alpha status.

      Stephanie Feury gives her Mildred Fox the plainness of a pioneer and the desperation of a dust-bowl victim.   As Deidre Fox, the family's sexually active daughter, Sophie Ullett shines with hope and yearning, trying desperately to avoid the temptation of incest.   Grandmother Hulda Fox is given a searching, screeching and compelling thru-line by Tina Preston.   Preston is a woman of great personal beauty who has allowed herself to be uglied-up in the extreme by Apryl M. Douglas' makeup.   She looks like something that smells like elderly folks who don't bathe enough.

      Joey Beam, the neighborhood n'er do well functions as a full chorus in Tom Lillard's capable hands, reciting the metered poetry as if it were everyday utterances.   Eddie Karr plays a foster child, Tom O'Brien, who has come to help with the three-day harvest, or reaping of hay.

      The title might also refer to the Grim Reaper, as the entire family is consumed by a tornado, and their own dark desires.   The only survivor is Tom O'Brien, like the Watchman of Aescheylus' Orestia.

      I am devastated by this Tragedy.   I cannot sleep.   See it.

      Highly recommended.