If you're in the mood for a thought-provoking play than I must recommend "ADMISSIONS" by Joshua Harmon now playing now at the Players Circle Theater along McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers. This is a show that I can't stop thinking about as it really puts the spotlight on the audience.
It's purposely designed to challenge and provoke as the play poses some uncomfortable but important questions about race, identity and privilege and yes it can be considered quite uncomfortable to watch at times and ironically it is played by all white characters.
The veteran actors in this performance make it very powerful as they pour their souls into the characters. Admissions features a strong performance by Carrie Lund-Cacioppo, who plays Sherri Rosen-Mason, the admissions director for an elite prep school which is 80% white. She pledges to increase diversity at the school and struggles to make her assistant Roberta played by Kelly Jo Madoian understand the importance of featuring people of color into the schools marketing brochure, however Roberta insists she doesn't see color and character conflict takes center stage.
Her real challenge however comes when her son Charlie played brilliantly by actor Harvey Evans announces his best friend, an African American, who we never see, got into Yale when Charlie did not.
That announcement sets off a chain of events and emotions which allows Evans to dominate the stage in a moving performance as he sorts through his own heartbreak and conflict over quotas and race-based admissions to college. Evans has starred in several shows recently at Players Circle and with each one he has delivered stellar performances.
Sherri and her husband Bill, the headmaster of the school, struggle as their progressive values collide with their personal ambition to see their son into an elite school.
Actress Betty Nordstrom delivers in her character. Ginne, a friend of the couple who is also white and married to a black man, who the audience never sees, and it's her son that made it into Yale. The friendship soon becomes strained after Ginnie discovers Sherri and Bill believe her son only got accepted to fill the school's quota.
The show has its funny moments and sharp humor but by in large it is a drama that is meant to poke the psyche and leave you battling in your own mind as it challenges well-meaning white people to re-think how they lift up people of color and a warning that it may be a bitter pill for many to swallow.
The play comes highly recommended. It has tremendous acting, writing and staging. The set is beautiful and the theater in the round is perfect for this show. It's 100 minutes long and no intermission, which is also smart because it doesn't give the audience time to really ponder until the conclusion.
Hats off to Players Circle for bringing fresh shows to Southwest Florida.
"ADMISSIONS" runs through January 26th. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 239-800-3292. You can also visit their website .
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