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Spokesperson
Spin—that devious, ubiquitous and necessary political tool—lies at the center of Whipple’s world-premiere sitcom for the stage. When disturbing white splotches appear on a lake in a quiet factory town, various savvy locals seize the news and spin it to their advantage: Twentysomething bum activist Andy (MacKenna Murphy) blames the dots on a factory chemical spill, hoping to push his corporate adversaries off his turf; local neighbor Vince likewise protests the factory, keeping in mind the financial payoff a big-bucks business lawsuit might provide. Money-grubbing company spokesperson Candy’s (Remke) polished monologues defending the factory at first appear most corrupt of all. But Candy’s honest, if misinformed motives slowly reveal themselves as more genuine than even those of the most starry-eyed reformers.
Whipple’s moral musings may not stand up next to Kant, but they do lead him down a lighthearted path of twistier and twistier deception and duplicity, with farcical complexity that compensates for what Spokesperson lacks in innovative dialogue. Prop Thtr’s solidly acted production does ample justice to the script, while the playwright’s own simple, aquatic set design provides an elegant backdrop. Remke commands the stage through most of the play, rising above Candy’s ditzier lines to portray a headstrong, yet excessively manic corporate mouthpiece. Kelly Owens also brightens the stage as a scoop-hungry broadcaster whose colossal, cast-iron grin gleams with lunacy. Only toward the very end does the ensemble’s verve unravel into some less-than-polished, shrieky madness. Though Spokesperson wants for freshness, the whirling plot makes up for it in spin.
