Since most theatre critics are also writers with a screenplay or two stashed in a desk drawer, seeing “Schooled” by Lisa Lewis can be something of a busman’s holiday.
A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Lewis spent six years giving coverage for New Line Cinema, Tribeca Film, and The Weinstein Company. She drew upon this for her three-hander about a female student being urged onto the casting couch by a randy screenwriter who teaches his craft at a Greenwich Village college (and any resemblance to NYU is not coincidental). With all those horrid in-your-face headlines about Bill Cosby and the aspiring starlets he promised to help swirling in the news cycle, the dilemma in “Schooled” will surely resonate with women. As soon as Professor Andrew (Quentin Maré) invites a petite coed Claire (Lilli Stein) to discuss her pages at The White Horse Tavern, goose bumps rise. Uh-oh.
Although there’s every indication that Claire is astute and intelligent, she impresses Andrew by being a big fan of his IMBd credits, which include his best known B and C-level trash such as the thriller “Devil’s Daughter,” inspired by his first wife, he boasts. Claire’s wealthy lover-boy Jake (Stephen Friedrich), a classmate and the program’s golden boy, is jealous over these late-night tavern tutorials and feels Andrew’s a hack — — even though Jake has no qualms about schmoozing with him, trying to get a nomination for the same prestigious grant Claire is after.
Unlike Jake, born with the Midas touch of deep-pocket parents to finance his dreams and pay for his spacious crib in the West Village, hard-working Claire is from blue collar stock in Atlantic City. When she discusses her goal of making “The Gamble,” a bio-pic about her late father, she mentions that her mother, a casino dealer, got her fake I.D. so she could be a cocktail waitress when she was 15 years old. Instead of praising Claire for helping her family, Andrew, soused with beer, drools over his Lolita fantasy even as he mocks her mini-skirted bar costume.
Since Atlantic City is mentioned often, we’re cued in. Soon its clever subtext becomes apparent. New Jersey casinos “schooled” Claire, teaching many skills such as how to throw darts and handle drunks smoothly. Thanks to her training, after a series of saloon sessions, Claire is much further ahead with her script but Andrew still can’t get into her bed. Finally, he accuses her of toying with his feelings. Since he’s married to Wife #2 and has two toddlers, he gets no sympathy from Claire nor us. She’s the one we’re cheering for, not him.
Unfortunately, Lewis seems not to realize that when she crafted her happy-at-last finale, set years later at Tribeca Film Festival where Claire and Andrew reconnect. Each got in with an arty entry, Andrew is sober now, and we learn which student won his nomination instead of Claire. This disappointing anti-climax is puzzling, especially because Lewis has been developing her play since 2011 (or earlier) and probably received guidance about the ending.
Though the sharp dialogue and well-developed characters make “Schooled” a pleasure, there are a few stumbles. For example, Lewis raises issues about art, wealth, and power but then drops them. One moment, probably unintentionally comic, is when Andrew critiques Claire’s script and tells her there is no inciting incident. “Schooled” doesn’t have one either. (Whoops.)
Actor Quentin Maré, cast as the alcoholic, predatory film professor, plays Andrew with plenty of prickly charisma. A Juilliard alum who’s done both Broadway and the Bard, Maré synthesizes all those moments when Claire’s favorite instructor is feeling entitled, brutally candid, preoccupied, moody, or needy in order to make Andrew, by turns, seductive or repellent. The shrewd detail — — that he listens to Led Zeppelin in his minivan — — reveals an aging hipster whose perspective has not evolved with the passage of time. Maré commandeers the stage with a performance that feels true. Bravissimo.
Actress Lilli Stein does a good job of making Claire absorbingly focused in her ambitions yet tactful, likable, and a good protagonist to root for. Actor Stephen Friedrich, who does not have many credits, is merely adequate as Jake. And though he’s Claire’s main squeeze, neither makes us feel the chemistry between them.
In November 2011, there was a private reading of “Schooled” at the New Ohio Theatre with a cast of four: Peter Friedman, Phoebe Strole, Mara Davi, and James Kautz. This time around, Kautz, A.D. of the Amoralists, is directing. And though he keeps the pace moving, the way he positioned the playing spaces was peculiar. All three areas — — Andrew’s office, Claire’s dorm, and the tavern — — are always visible. But since the most important scenes occur when they’re drinking, the table-chairs set-up should have been downstage, not far upstage.
Tyler M. Perry’s scenic design was efficient with good props. Jeanne Travis did an excellent job with the sound design. Lighting by Evan Roby, often adequate, was sometimes too dim.
Christopher Metzger did a solid job with the costumes, dressing the screenwriter-professor like a Clint Eastwood wannabe. Claire’s semi-sheer white blouse was a good choice for the first date at The White Horse Tavern but she’s too sloppily attired for a Tribeca Film Fest cocktail party.
And though a silly line of dialogue indicates that the iconic saloon, where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, is “now a cellphone store,” it is still in business at 567 Hudson Street.
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THE SOHO PLAYHO– USE IS PRESENTING LISA LEWIS’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED “SCHOOLED,” DIRECTED BY JAMES KAUTZ (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE AMORALISTS), AS PART OF THE FRINGE ENCORE SERIES (OCT 5 – 17). IT’S ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM.
New York, NY – After a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at The New York International Fringe Festival, the Soho Playhouse will present The All-Americans’s production of SCHOOLED, written by Lisa Lewis and directed by James Kautz (Artistic Director of The Amoralists), as part of the Fringe Encore Series, running October 5 – 17, 2015. The Soho Playhouse is located at 15 Vandam Street between 6th Avenue and Varick Street in New York City.
The remaining performances are on Sun 10/11 at 7pm and Sat 10/17 at 7pm. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at http://www.SohoPlayhouse.com. The running time is 90 minutes. For more info visit http://SchooledThePlay.com.
