Carrie (Alexis C. Martino) walks into an office, disoriented as the last thing she remembers is a car accident. She rapidly figures out the most salient detail--she is dead. What she doesn't know--her precise location now. It looks like a reception room. And a smiling lady (Rebecca O'Brien) who points her to a chair and says "Have a seat. I'll be with you shortly."
So begins I'll Be With You Shortly by Michael Merton, with the charming and appropriate tagline "Welcome to the Afterlife. Take a number."
At this point you might have some idea of what kind of play-length sketch one might expect with this setup. Most will be pleasantly surprised. Because while Carrie has some time to wait--even after being told there is no Time--we do not remain with her. Nor do we find out much about the rest of the Afterlife. We learn a little. Not much. Mostly we get glimpses of what is still going on in this, the living world. We meet a variety of interesting characters, about half of whom will be entering the same waiting room sooner rather than later. Disease, murder, accident, and old age--they run the gamut of why. Curiously, teh mystery that builds is why Carrie remains while everyone else is pointed to the escalators up or down. She feels this unfair, very much so. Even when the smiling lady points out the alternative to being here might be very, very unpleasant indeed. Instead she's made to wait. And wait. And wait some more.
Carol Becker's direction feels spot on, as the gentle absurdity of everything manages to combine humor with some real pathos, some darkness, a bit of tragedy, some hope as well as some despair. Frankly this play--which for the record is exactly my kind of jam--feels tricky. But that is something which came to me later. While watching and listening, taking in the moments offered by the cast and crew before me, I felt drawn in to every set of characters and each situation. That is not easy. But she and her people threaded those needles very well.
From a crazy old cat lady attempting to "fire" her son from being her son, to the straight guy at a gay wedding learning an important life lesson, the beleaguered but startlingly optimistic cop, and the hiring of a hit man which goes south in a borderline spectacular manner, the ensemble of Janet Hoskins, Debra Kay Lee, Jerry Weil, Jason Paul Evans, Patrick Thofson, Amanda Lynne, Alex De Rita, Nick Benson, Brittany De Leon, Andrea Sojo, Andrew Neaves, and Jessica Dowdeswell pull it all together into ninety minutes of laughs and sighs, of shocks plus a few grim thoughts here and there.
For the record, the night I saw this show Joan Kubicek went on, and I did not realize she was an understudy. So brava!
I'll Be With You Shortly from the NeoEnsemble plays Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8 p.m. until November 7, 2024 at The Loft Ensemble Theatre, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood, CA 91602.
Disclaimer: I know and am friends with several persons involved in this production.
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