Acting Up

Cicilia A. Yakhlef

BAD MONEY

The Phoenix Theatre
1124 Santa Fe Drive
303-860-9360

Take one burned-out, chemically bolstered former football star, one detective with a psycho side-kick and a chip on his shoulder, and one media preacher with a penchant for Ponzi scams and you have a simmering stew that smacks of "Bad Money," the latest play noir by Colorado playwright David Earl Jones.

Jones' iconoclastic foray into modern American archetypes plays like the soap-opera version of Headline News, with scandal after scandal rocking the stage and surprises that in this day and age aren't really all that surprising. But they are entertaining. With an unpretentious air and a flair for multi-layered plots and sub-plots, David Earl Jones presents us with several snapshots of that behavior we seem to value most--exploitation. Three separate plots develop between Eddie "Frankenstein" Marsden, the tarnished onetime golden-boy athlete, Chauncy Collins, the police lieutenant who has a date with corruption and Reverend Larry Hartman, the sweet-faced "Pastor of Biblical economics." The three characters open the doors to a play full of moral mayhem, the message behind which seems to be, "exploit athletes, exploit women, exploit power, hell go ahead and exploit God if you want to ... you're still gonna wind up dead." A fitting, if somewhat dark social commentary on the shadows that plague our every sunrise.

Jones' talents as a playwright propel the action on stage through enough hoops to make a circus dog dizzy, and somehow the director, cast and stage crew manage to keep up. The characterizations are gorgeously cliché, and although I'm hardly ever a fan of stock characters or clichés, the subtle irony that makes this play shine is one often voiced by an old professor of mine, "Let form fit function." It is not only fitting, but artistically adept to fill this play with intricate predictabilities.

The acting was wonderful, due in part to a nearly combustible chemical reaction between the actors. Standouts were Chris Tabb in the starring role, David Quinn as the wigged-out Detective Head, Phi Bernier as Rev. Larry Hartman and Jenifer Alonzo as leather queen Brenda.

Director Dan Hiester choreographed challenges in the script well, bringing all of the nuances intended by the author to full fruition. Of particular note was the clarity of present and future action achieved in a parallel dialogue sequence between Eddie, Emily and Mulvehill. Great direction. Hiester was backed up by stage manager Elizabeth Lee, who managed to make frequent set changes so smoothly subtle and distraction-free that the audience was able to follow the complex plot and dialogue without hesitation. A