The ninth, and penultimate, chapter of the Speakeasy Society’s Kansas Collection finds us back with the bad guys even as the sprawling saga laid claim to some new turf: Chung King Road’s Automata.
The stripped down performance space where former Private, now General, Joe Files (Zan Headley) leads us is a reflection of the story as months of machinations have stripped down the cast and at times Byzantine plotting to a showdown between good and evil.
Chapter Eight caught us up with the good guys. There, Phil Darling (Matthew Bamberg-Johnson) possessed by the good side of Ozma — rightful ruler of Oz — awoke to his innate magical abilities. Now it’s the baddies turn.
After General Files reacquaints us with our duties to the crown he brings us down a steep staircase to an audience with the Evil Ozma — Phil’s twin sister Phoebe (Genevieve Gearhart) who reclines regally in a slinky black dress replete with conspicuous baby bump. Dynasties require heirs, after all.
While the good half of Ozma has been in hiding, trying to find a shred of hope, Evil Ozma has reveled in unchecked power. Gearhart brings this home with gleeful scene chewing that she charismatically raises to an art form. The Kansas Collection has been a melodrama, after all, and no one in the company has walked the tonal tightrope with as much grace or joy as its Co-Artistic Director this entire time.
Get Noah J Nelson’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
SubscribeSubscribe
Phil/Good Ozma may be awakening to magic, but Phoebe/Evil Ozma has been messing around with potions, which she ends up testing out on the lot of and an unsuspecting Lion (Jessica Rosilyn), who makes a key delivery straight off her appearance in Chapter Eight.
The Storm is a drawing room piece, almost literally, and serves a dual function in the storytelling machine that is The Kansas Collection.
First, it brings the sprawl back down to a human level. Drama, even — no, especially melodrama — is about characters, and this bite-sized three-hander puts us right back at that level by making the consequences of the character’s choices clear. Second: this is the part of the story where the villain lays bare their schemes in a speech right before all hell breaks loose.
Of course, we’ve still got one more chapter to go, with the feature-length The Portal having just been announced, and there’s bound to be some twists before the dust settles.
As the collection nears its end, I find myself thinking about how it would all fit together as a singular piece, or one run over a series of nights. With hours upon hours of material at this point there’s bound to be cuts and condensing, but hopefully this little moment gets to stay. After all, every “good” villainess deserves their moment in the spotlight.
The Kansas Collection: The Storm has concluded its run.
NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers. Join them today!
In addition to the No Proscenium web site, our podcast, and our newsletters, you can find NoPro on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, in the Facebook community Everything Immersive, and on our Slack forum.
Office facilities provided by Thymele Arts, in Los Angeles, CA.
Discussion