With expectations at ground level and my head pounding from a migraine, I began to dread the start of the three-man show called, “The Recommendation”, as I took my seat in a tiny theater that resembled a black box. The Flea Theater is much smaller than I’d imagined, but I realized only later, how well it fit the plot. But more on that later on. I took my seat with low spirits but when I heard Wiz Khalifa playing in the background I was already in a slightly better mood. However, it wasn’t till the actors came out and made the first few jokes, that I found myself suddenly relaxed and laughing along. I’m big on humor and if a script is clever and witty, I couldn’t be more engaged. Kudos to the playwright, Jonathan Curan, who managed to incorporate both qualities into the story. This off- off- Broadway show was originally playing from August 23 through September 22, but fortunately it was extended to play from September 27- October 7 due to praise from critics.

The praise is certainly earned. “The Recommendation” achieved a balance of entertainment and information that aroused our minds to open up and pushed the limits of our imaginations. Sitting so close to the actors, I literally felt like I was living the experience vicariously through them. Under the direction of Kel Haney, the play created a new take on the values of friendship and played on the race and class stereotypes that are still existent in our country today. Set in modern times, the play depicted the transition between college life and adulthood and as a result I was drawn into the play’s relevance. Because it was a coming of age story, I was able to easily relate to the struggles the young adults faced – the frustration of fitting in, the constant internal conflicts, and the amount of responsibility it takes to handle the newfound independence.

Aaron Feldmen, played by Austin Trow, was the white, rich guy who had it all and he developed a life long friendship with his half black roommate at college, Iskinder Iodoku who went by “Izzy”, played by James Fouhey. But things got complicated when a third character stepped into the picture. Dwight Barnes, played by Barron Bass, portrays an African American convict who is “saved”. The white, rich kid with the money, the half black kid who half makes it, and the African American in prison, are the three stereotypes often still acknowledged by society, because of existent systems such as “affirmative action”. And it is still true that those with the connections or legacies make up a large sum of the populations of Ivy League universities today. Taking these existing practices into account, the three actors interact in a way that I haven’t seen, each sharing individual stories that unravel in suspense. Predictable is the last word that comes to mind when describing the unique events of this particular play. Stereotypes in the play extend outside the realm of the three characters and are incorporated into the additional characters the actors take on. James Fouhey also plays the “crackhead” in prison. A “crackhead” is someone we associate with poverty and jail – a low class drug. However, that’s definitely a stereotype, because there are rich people who do crack as well, we just don’t think of them as the “crackheads” of society. I think Curan was trying to show another class level in society and he used the “crackhead” as someone who was even below Dwight. On drugs and incapable of functioning in a social setting, it almost seemed as if he was bowing down to Dwight, and it was interesting to see this kind of interaction.

The actors were all equally talented and I particularly like what they did with their roles. They made them their own and it worked. Not only did it work individually, but also there was chemistry between the actors as well. Going even further, there was chemistry between the actors and the audience. There were definitely some technical mechanisms used in the creation of the play that worked to enhance the experience, such as breaking the fourth wall. This means the actors interacted with the audience. In addition, Curan used flashback to show scenes from younger days and scenes that happened outside the chronological sequence of the play to help the audience put together the bits and pieces.

The set designer, Caite Hevner Kemp, didn’t have much space to work with due to the dimensions of the theater as previously stated. However the props were chosen to help set what little they could possibly fit. To capture a jail scene, they set up four poles behind the actors and dimmed the lights, creating a prison- like atmosphere. For “poolside” scenes, a wooden board was used as a lounge chair. It was modest, but nonetheless fitting. Another enhancement was definitely music. The sound designer, Elisheba Ittoop, used mainstream hip- hop music throughout the play to capture the either the chill mood at parties or the serious tone in jail. Tone is something that carried the play along because there was such a wide range of emotions. At times, the play was serious and other times it was playful and humorous. The most successful scenes incorporated humor into a serious tone.

An uncomfortable moment arose during a wrestling scene in a sauna between Feldman and Izzy when both men in their towels fell to the ground and in a heated moment flashed the audience intentionally during the fight. Although the nudity was certainly unexpected, I liked that addition at the end simply because something like that is no longer considered taboo. Nudity in theater is a part of art and as part of the audience we accept that and appreciate it. This not only pushes our boundaries but also the boundaries of Feldman and Izzy’s friendship.