AUSTIN - A little bit of naughty and a lot of nice is the best way to describe Naughty Austin productions' latest endeavor at the Dougherty Arts Center, Angel's Balcony. Sexuality, death, lies, "the past", and a flamboyant "queen" are all the elements that breathe life in Blake Yelavich intrinsic script of a group of twenty-something's day at the beach.
Yelavich's script, utilizing a not-so-fresh Big Chill-esque concept of bringing together a group of friends and new acquaintances, explores the stereotypical assumptions of who people are - and who they pretend to be - while an encouraging notion of "stepping outside the box" from time to time.
Despite awkward moments of staging and a sense of too much narrative interaction, Yelavich and Director Douglas Taylor rise to the occasion in delivering a production that will surely bring in the crowds (and not only to look at the "good looking people" of this production and the hope that Michael Thorton drops his pillows.)
Dean (Jennifer Nickolyn) invites her "boyfriend" and other acquaintances for a weeks stay at her University (where she works) professor's time-share beach house, possibly in Galveston. This uncertainty is a direct result from one line of dialogue as being delivered as "right here in Houston" and another line as "I moved here from Houston." It is safe to say that it is near a beach somewhere possibly in Texas.
There is a sense, at first, that Brett (Bryan Kent), the probable latent homosexual, has a relationship with Dena, but it isn't until it is described as "boyfriend-girlfriend" that you get a sense that it is a romantic one.
Brett is stereotypically portrayed as a class E homosexual: the gay male in denial and refusal who overcompensates with annoying and overt heterosexual innuendoes. Kent's portrayal is convincing but lacks a real range of inner fear that one would expect from someone who "may be figured out"; especially since his ex-best friend and probable first homosexual experience, Gabriel (Jody Lanclos), is invited to attend.
As the script unfolds, discovery of hidden truths through flashback techniques and voice-overs simultaneously occurring often cohabit the stage - a wonderful technique for the staging.
The story of the mysterious stranger next door who loves to strip naked adds an interesting sub-plot to the obvious "hidden secrets of the main characters" and his sporadically-told relationship storyline of the drug addicted/ hustler, Zane (Thorton).