In "Laughing Wild," two lonely souls find love - in the tuna fish aisle.
The play's two characters, referred to only as Man (played by Blake Catherwood) and Woman (Heather Yeo), reflect on their high-anxiety urban lives in monologues and bizarre, coinciding dream sequences.
Man and Woman seem unrelated at first but reveal they met in the tuna aisle at a supermarket. The Woman hits the surprised Man on the head for not getting out of her way. He wonders how he could have made their meeting happen differently. They both find people difficult and have trouble dealing with others rationally.
The play is showing at The Box Performance Space, at 1025 Lomas Blvd. N.W. It is directed by Kristin Berg, co-owner of The Box, which celebrated its one-year anniversary March 2.
"Laughing Wild" is one of this season's adult offerings by Cardboard Playhouse Productions, which produces mostly children's theater.
The play is centered on a line from "Happy Days," the Samuel Beckett play: "Laughing wild amid severest woe."
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The characters, ridden by high anxiety, hopelessness and isolation, search for meaning through satire. Though the dark play tackles serious subjects, it does so in a way that doesn't allow its audience to stop laughing.
The play has three acts. In "Laughing Wild," we meet Woman, who bounces back from bursting into tears with wild laughter. In "Seeking Wild," we meet Man, who is trying to fight his constant
irrational fears with "positive thinking" from a personality course he took. In "Dreaming Wild," they have similar dreams about being on Sally Jesse Raphael's show and in Central Park at the Harmonic Convergence, a new age convention. And they find in each other just what they have been looking for.
Negative-thinking Man, in an effort to fight his existentialism with optimism, does semi-sun salutations while trying to reassure himself he is the "predominant source of energy" in his life.
Woman runs around and dances madly on stage and in the aisles and has a high-pitched, maniacal laugh. She alludes to numerous stints at a mental institution and confesses that she joined Alcoholics Anonymous "for companionship."
But Yeo said that beneath all the craziness, her character is relatable.
"There isn't much difference between her and the people you see every day," she said. "She just doesn't have that filter that the rest of us do."
Yeo said that when she first read the script, she thought her character would be difficult because she was clearly crazy.
"But it was fun finding the real person in her," Yeo said.
She said anyone can feel empathy for Woman, even though she at first appears unbalanced.
"She just wants someone to listen to her, to accept her, to love her," Yeo said. "You can't get much more universal than that."
Yeo said she enjoyed delving into the complexity of Woman's character, thanks to free rein from director Kristin Berg.
"Kristin was cool about letting us explore the characters and find them naturally," she said. "We got to find out for ourselves. It made it more organic and more real."
Yeo is a 2007 graduate of the UNM Theatre and Dance Department.
Berg said the play is relevant to today's political conflicts.
Christopher Durang wrote the play in 1987. But 21 years later, the issues in his play aren't outdated, she said.
"Maybe the politicians have changed," Berg said, "but the politics haven't."
The characters give their perspectives on some controversial issues - religion, contraception, homosexuality, global warming, AIDS and abortion.
"People might not agree with what we're saying, but they will be sure to have a conversation about it afterward," Berg said.
Man and Woman delve into some deep questions and have trouble coming up with any concrete solutions, but they do give the audience the key to existence.
They instruct the audience to breathe. They are two parts of the same breath: He breathes in. She breathes out. After all their musings, this is the best advice they say they can think to offer: "Just breathe."
And after laughing wildly for two hours, you'll need to.
"Laughing Wild"
Friday-Saturday - 8 p.m.
Sunday - 6 p.m.
The Box Performance Space
1025 Lomas Blvd. N.W.
$10 for students, $12 general
