by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Sometimes it is easier to feed ideas to people if they are surrounded by jokes and humor.
This is the philosophy by which Kevin Elder delivers his messages.
Elder is a member of Tricklock Company where his one-man comedy act, "Tangential or How In a Moment the World Was Tied Together With Yarn and Amused Until the Loneliness Made Sense," runs through April 10.
His performance addresses relationship complications, Humpty Dumpty, Chaplin vs. Keaton, Microsoft, sweatshops, friends and parents. The themes are accessorized with hilarious tangents. The audience was doubled over in laughter throughout the performance.
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The show is autobiographical.
"It is based on my own life," Elder said.
Elder, a one-time UNM student, eventually left New Mexico and trained with Daniel Stein at the Del Arte International School of Musical Theatre and the Gardzienice Theatre of Poland.
Halfway through writing the show, he realized it was not enough to only talk, he said.
"I needed to find more of a reason for the show to be onstage rather than it being a radio-play short story," Elder said. "At Tricklock, we care about the theatricality of shows - what makes it theater and not a television show."
He uses crude drawings to illustrate the spoken script. A Kurt Vonnegut book inspired the idea of using drawings.
"I was reading Breakfast of Champions while I was writing it," Elder said.
He said he began writing the show five months ago.
"It's still pretty early," Elder said. "I'll go back for rewrites as soon as this round is over. I just need to get a sense for how it works - what the audience gets out of it, what I get out of it."
Much of the humor is self-deprecating. Laughing over imperfections brings them out into the open, and they are no longer concerns.
Elder said there is a lot in the show for people to identify with.
"Part of what I want to do as an artist is make connections with people," he said. "I think that one of the main things that separates film from theater is the ability to establish real connections with people - to be in the same room with an audience and really ask them questions."
During the show, Elder scans the room to search for the audience member he is going to direct lines at.
The show has a stripped-down, raw feeling. It is easy to imagine one's own life being acted out.
Elder is comfortable yet assertive in making close eye contact with members of the audience. He works his way evenly through the room. The minimalism of the stage's set design allows people to focus intently on his eye shifts and body movements that accentuate the meanings of his words.
There is sweetness in the crudity of the show. Elder keeps us in fluctuation of forgiving ourselves for the way we are and feeling guilty.
Audiences will leave the theater feeling satisfied and with the idea that people are who they are, so make the best of it.
Tangential
Grade "A"
Tricklock performance space,
112 Washington Blvd.
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm
Sundays at 6pm
$9 for students, $12 general
254-8393
