urban excavations

Table 17
Featuring Biko Eisen-Martin, Michael Rishawn, and Kara Young
MCC Theater
August 14, 2024 – September 29 , 2024 [extended]
production site

Douglas Lyons has crafted a sneakily layered romcom, a heartfelt study of a long-term relationship, a three-hander in an intimate setting that features in fact a Table 17 and a disco ball. This heterosexual relationship story (Kara Young is Jada and Biko Eisen-Martin is Dallas) with a comically brilliant maître d’ (and other characters) played by Michael Rishawn. Young is an exquisite wonder as always in this small scale delight; Rishawn is the real find in this simple creation. Think Erich Blore (for those who know the old Astaire-Rogers films) or any second banana with vaudevillian comic chops. Rishawn has them in abundance, and surprisingly leads (or perhaps better said hosts) this exploration of a relationship that goes awry then resolves.

The story works backward in time as do a number of great pieces of theater — Pinter’s Betrayal comes to mind as another time bouncing three hander involving two men and a woman. Table 17 begins several years after Jada and Dallas broke up, and Dallas surprises Jada with an invitation to dinner. We can relate nerves in revisiting old relationships and potential old baggage, but in this story we don’t yet know what the baggage might be.

The story next moves back in time six years to reveal how Jada and Dallas met, dated, fell in love, and got engaged. The playwright balances male and female perspectives in presenting what broke up the relationship. This is a small scale human story with small scale human stakes — no threat of nuclear war and no character is homicidal or suicidal. The performers deliver this solid 90-minute adventure with grace and humor, directed by Zhailon Levingson with a clear and steady sensibility, and we are totally along for the ride.

Kara Young shows humor and emotion, and we feel her pain struggling with the fact she continues to care for the man she left some years before. Eisen-Martin is enchanting, and the chemistry between the two actors which extends to the characters is palpable. The true discovery, as noted, is the third hand in this trio, Michael Rishawn, who crafts multiple characters so well defined that you will check your program to verify that they are all played by the same performer.

One risky move by the playwright or the director (perhaps both) is the decision to have the performers directly address the audience to comment on the action of the play and of the characters they are playing. What should they wear, what would you do in this situation, they ask. This kind of strategy can feel gimmicky and we all have seen such moves fall flat in the shaky hands. These performers are surefooted and clear and are able to deliver that strategy and effectively draw us in to the story.

© Martha Wade Steketee (September 10, 2024)

Playwright | Douglas Lyons
Director | Zhailon Levingston
Set Design | Jason Sherwood
Costume Design | Devario D. Simmons
Lighting Design | Ben Stanton
Sound Design | Christopher Darbassie
Composer | Tre Matthews