HotCity Theatre

Intelligent Life

by Lauren Dusek Albonico

Blurb:

Set in the basement of a tenant house in Utah, "Intelligent Life" tells the farcical tale of extraterrestrial, peyote-driven enthusiasts, self-titled "Utah Alien Chasers." This ramshackle group discovers a mud-stained little boy in a dinosaur costume who may or may not be an alien. What is certain is that the boy has a genius level IQ and telekinetic powers that are beyond this world!

Cast:

Jessie - Emily Fisher
Gary - Kevin Beyer
Terrence - Alan McClintock
Robin - Aarya Sara Locker*
Beau - Scott Schneider
Aethen - Parker S. Donovan

* represents members of Actors' Equity, the union of professional actors and stage managers

Mentions/Awards/Kudos:

See the 3rd Annual New Play Festival for info about the staged reading of this play at HotCity.

See the great St. Louis Beacon article.

Critics' Reviews:

"But in the battle between faith and reason, it's hard to say what will prevail — especially if the voice of reason belongs to a drunk in torn overalls (Kevin Beyer). Beyer and [Parker S.] Donovan give performances both nuanced and touching; in Albonico's most imaginative scene, the two of them plumb the hidden depths of sock-puppet theater. (Who knew!)"
- Judith Newmark, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Read the full review)

"The costumes (Jane Sullivan) are character-appropriate and clever, especially some Halloween garb—you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Kevin Beyer in a sparkly full-body turkey suit. The lights (Michael Sullivan) and sci-fi sound (music chosen and effects designed by Matthew Koch) evoke an atmosphere of expectation and even some discomfort. Does something wicked this way come?"
-Andrea Braun, KDHX (Read the full review)

" Pileggi coaxes convincing performances out of her highly capable ensemble, and moves the show along quickly."
-Mark Bretz, Ladue News (Read the full review)

"Aarya Sara Locker dives in headfirst as Robin, firm in her convictions until they blow up in her face. Scott Schneider does solid work as slacker/stoner Beau, and Emily Fisher is quite good as his on-again, off-again girlfriend Jessie, who actually seems to be the only intelligent adult among this motley crew. Parkers Donovan is engaging as kidnap "victim" Aethan, and he gives a pretty natural and uninhibited performance."
-Chris Gibson, Broadway World (Read the full review)

Cast "Behind the Scenes" Interview:

The Playwright's Words:

I consider Intelligent Life to be a quirky comedy that deals seriously with issues of faith.

The idea for this play came from a few places all at once. I was finishing undergrad at Washington University and was coming to terms with the fact that I was a conservative Catholic in a decidedly secular setting. I was experiencing a lot of friction between my world view and the world views of those surrounding me at the time. I became very interested in how different people came to believe what they believed. I realized much of it had to do with what we are taught when we are young, the religions (or world views) that we are raised into in our families.

But I also knew from my own experience that what played the greatest role in leading me to what I believed was a single event - an event that presented a very clear choice - either the denunciation of my faith that I had been seriously doubting at the time or the complete submission and free fall into it. The play, in the end, becomes more or less an examination of this kind of choice and why certain people choose in the directions they do.

That's some of the bigger ideas behind the play, but by no means did I set out wanting to write a play with those in mind. The actual writing process began as my friend was telling me a strange story in which some old acquaintances of hers had "accidentally" kidnapped a small child. This first made me laugh, then disturbed me, then dawned on me like a chance for some really fun story-telling. During the actual writing process, I became wrapped up in the individual journeys and beliefs of each of these characters and had a lot of fun with the family dynamic that was being created among such a random group once a child was put in the mix. And only then did issues of faith begin to creep in between the laughs. And I think the child has everything to do with this, as children do - forcing us to look at ourselves differently and, hopefully, pushing us away from our own selfishness and towards a greater purpose.

Playwright's Bio:

Lauren Dusek Albonico is a playwright, director, designer, actor, and educator. She has worked in her hometown of St. Louis, in Chicago, and now currently in New Mexico. She received her B.A. in drama from Washington University in St. Louis and is now completing her M.A. in Theatre Education and Outreach from the University of New Mexico. She is the Director of UNM's Saturday Theatre Classes Program as well as the Director of the site-specific outreach project "Shakespeare on the Rail" which takes Shakespeare scenes out of the context of their plays and thrusts them into the context of the cars of the NM Rail Runner. For her work in theatre education and outreach, she received this year the national AATE Doyle Fellowship Recognition award at the conference in San Francisco. She continues to write and is currently focusing on writing for young audiences in addition to working on another full-length called "Boogie".