The Waiting Room

A Vineyard Theater presentation of a play in two acts by Lisa Loomer. Directed by David Schweizer.

Cast: Veanne Cox (Victoria), June Kyoko Lu (Forgiveness From Heaven), Chloe Webb (Wanda), Byron Jennings (Douglas), Damian Young (Larry), Lou Liberatore (Ken), William Langan (Oliver), James Saito (Blessing From Heaven), Michelle Shay (Brenda, others), Dylan Grewan, Mike Toto (orderlies).

For a play that contains an excruciatingly detailed description of Chinese foot binding and two characters with cancer, "The Waiting Room" is awfully cheery. This is in large part due to the unstoppable exuberance of Veanne Cox, June Kyoko Lu and Chloe Webb as three patients from different eras whose paths cross in the Twilight Zone waiting room from which the play derives its name. Author Lisa Loomer has provided them and the rest of the cast with a collection of roles that are clearly great fun to play and a lot of fun to watch. So much fun, in fact, that one is tempted to overlook how ineffectual the play becomes when it tries to get serious.

Heroines and villains alike each get a chance for some deep emotion, a flash of anger and a bit of lighthearted banter as the play winds its way back and forth through 18th-century China, Victorian England and contemporary America. Even the orderlies who move the furniture in and out for the various scenes get to participate in the good times, swinging their hospital gurneys and shuffling their chairs and desks with panache.

It is well that everyone is in such high spirits, because there's a lot of unpleasant stuff going on. Besides the bound feet and cancer, there is hysteria, debilitating sexism, rampant greed and even a sick cat. Loomer is clearly against all of these things. They are bad. And she is clearly in favor of women being allowed to determine their own destinies, and a health care system that puts people before profits. These are good.

As if attempting to catch more flies with sugar, Loomer puts more energy into supporting the good than she does slamming the bad. As a result, she doesn't score a knockout punch against the forces of evil. Only occasionally do her attacks strike home, as when the play's evil businessmen suddenly begin to sink into a fiery Hades.

Striking home throughout the play are the fine performances of Cox, Lu and Webb, as well as the always creative Michele Shay in a variety of important roles, Byron Jennings as a sympathetic doctor, Damian Young and Lou Liberatore as capitalist conspirators, and William Langan and James Saito as a couple of horny husbands.

Director David Schweizer keeps "The Waiting Room" zipping along at a snappy pace, while knowing when to slow down for Loomer's more tender moments. Designer G.W. Mercier has created a set that is remarkably warm for representing a cold space (a perfect echo of Loomer's script), and Peter Kaczorowski (lights), Gail Brassard (costumes) and Mitch Ely (hair and wigs) also contribute significantly.

Set, G.W. Mercier; costumes, Gail Brassard; lighting, Peter Kaczorowski; hair and wigs, Mitch Ely; sound, Darron L. West; music, Mitchell Greenhill; production stage manager, Elizabeth M. Berther. Artistic director, Douglas Aibel. Opened Nov. 5, 1996, at the Vineyard Theater. Reviewed Nov. 1; 125 seats; $ 30 top. Running time: 2 HOURS, 30 MIN.

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