Displaying items by tag: Ksa Curry

Theresa Rebeck’s Poor Behavior at Oil Lamp Theatre, directed by Lauren Katz, opens with the easy warmth of old friends reconnecting - only to reveal how quickly a shared history can curdle. Within minutes, the play exposes the messy, magnetic dynamics that will drive the evening off the rails.

Peter and his wife, Ella (Jack Morsovillo and Ksa Curry), have welcomed their longtime friends, Ian and Maureen (Sam Fain and Lauren Paige), to their getaway country home for what’s meant to be an easy, wine‑soaked weekend. At first, everything feels harmless enough: the four drift around the kitchen and dining area, chatting, teasing, negotiating snacks - Peter is fixated on getting ice cream, Maureen keeps the small talk humming - the kind of casual domestic bustle that suggests comfort and history. But the mood shifts quickly when Ella and Ian slip into a heated exchange. Their rhythm is so practiced, so charged, that it feels less like a friendly debate and more like a well‑worn battleground. The familiarity between them is startling; before the play has even fully settled, you can’t help but wonder whether these two are circling an old intimacy the others aren’t acknowledging.

Ella insists - almost with a kind of moral urgency - that there is still goodness in the world, that people are capable of generosity and grace if you’re willing to look for it. Ian, however, has no patience for her optimism. Once enamored with America when he first arrived from Ireland, he now sees the country through a far bleaker lens. Every example Ella offers is batted away; to Ian, America is a place that devours resources, exploits the planet, and disguises greed as virtue. His cynicism isn’t casual - it’s sharpened, almost weaponized - and the more Ella pushes, the more he digs in. The argument escalates until the air in the room feels charged and brittle, the kind of tension that makes everyone else freeze. And then, just as it threatens to tip into something truly damaging, they both pull back. Cooler heads prevail, apologies surface, and the group collectively pretends they haven’t just witnessed a fault line crack open beneath the weekend – for the moment.

Peter has known Maureen since childhood - his brother even dated her for a time - and that shared history lends their friendship an instinctive ease. Neither couple has children, a fact they use, somewhat conveniently, to justify how tightly they cling to one another’s company. But do they actually like each other as much as they claim? As the evening unfolds, small cracks begin to show. The conversation among the foursome is lively enough on the surface, yet it quickly becomes clear that each marriage carries its own quiet fractures. Then, when Maureen misinterprets a moment of consolation between Ella and Ian - whose father has just died, or so he says - the weekend tilts sharply off its axis. Accusations fly, lies multiply, manipulation takes root, and before long the polite veneer between these two couples is stripped away entirely.

(L to R) Sam Fain, Ksa Curry, Jack Morsovillo and Lauren Paige in POOR BEHAVIOR from Oil Lamp Theater. Photos by Gosia Matuszewska - GosiaPhotography.com.

At first, the “poor behavior” can be dismissed as simple drunkenness - after all, Ian has plowed through four bottles of wine on his own. But as the night wears on, it becomes clear that alcohol is only the accelerant, not the cause. Rebeck gradually peels back the layers on all four characters: Maureen, whose anxiety and emotional fragility leave her grasping for reassurance; Ian, who seems to relish stoking doubt and discomfort whenever the opportunity presents itself; Ella is idealistic but is clearly withholding something; it’s subtle, but the undercurrent of it hums beneath everything she does; and mild-mannered Peter, who defaults to denial, choosing avoidance over confrontation and clinging to the hope that he can simply walk away from the weekend as though nothing has happened. What begins as sloppy, alcohol-fueled bickering soon exposes the fault lines that have been waiting for the slightest spark to rupture.  

Sam Fain and Ksa Curry deliver two of the evening’s most arresting performances, their scenes pulsing with an undeniable, almost disarming connection from the get-go. Fain’s Ian commands the room with a dangerous charm, twisting conversations to his advantage while letting flashes of buried desire slip through the cracks, while Curry’s Ella meets him with a grounded emotional intelligence that reveals the deeper currents Rebeck threads beneath their exchanges. Lauren Paige brings a raw, aching vulnerability to Maureen, charting her spirals of insecurity with precision and empathy, and Jack Morsovillo anchors the chaos as Peter, his quiet restraint and mounting frustration giving the play its moral center.

The arguing is relentless, and the tension feels startlingly real. Under Lauren Katz’s direction, the world of Poor Behavior becomes a room primed to combust with every glance, pause, and interruption calibrated to reveal the messy, volatile dynamics between these four characters. Katz cultivates a realism so precise that the uncomfortable moments become genuinely unsettling, keeping us on our toes as we anticipate what might unfold next - good or bad. And though we may root for these couples to find their way back to solid ground, the production holds us captive with the stark authenticity of their unraveling, a truthfulness that makes the prospect of reconciliation feel increasingly remote. Rebeck’s script raises thorny questions about the strength of relationships, the dangers of complacency (or not – for some), the limits of tolerance, and the moment when “enough” finally becomes enough - and Katz ensures those questions echo long after the final scene.

The thoughtfully crafted set serves this play perfectly, which strengthens the production’s overall effectiveness. Trenton Jones shapes a kitchen‑and‑dining‑room layout that feels like a genuinely lived‑in countryside home. A staircase rises toward the suggested upstairs bedrooms, while just beyond the kitchen refrigerator sits the entrance to a ground‑floor guest room. The result is a spacious‑looking design that expands the world of the play and works remarkably well on Oil Lamp’s intimate stage.

Oil Lamp Theater’s well-paced Poor Behavior succeeds because every element - Rebeck’s incisive writing, Katz’s sharply attuned direction, and a quartet of deeply committed performances - works together to illuminate the muddled, contradictory ways people love, wound, and misread one another. The staging embraces discomfort without sacrificing its humanity, inviting us to recognize uncomfortable truths about ourselves in the chaos onstage. By the time the lights fade, we’re left with the uneasy understanding that relationships don’t always resolve neatly, yet the effort to navigate them is what makes us unmistakably human. It’s the kind of play that stays with you long after you’ve left the theater.

Poor Behavior is being performed at Oil Lamp Theatre through May 10^th. For tickets and/or more show information, click here.

Highly recommended.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

“Is this what it’s like to have sisters?”

I know I personally fall into the category of Jane Austen fans who have been following adaptations and spinoffs of Pride and Prejudice for eons. What happened to the Bennett sisters after the famous events of the classic tale? Did Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy find happiness? How are Jane and Mr. Bingley finding their marriage, and did the younger sisters ever discover their own paths to true love? Playwright Lauren Gunderson provides her own take through her trilogy Christmas at Pemberly plays, and in collaboration with Margot Melcon, the third installment offers a window into how the lives of Kitty and Georgiana progress post the original story.

In Act 1, As Georgiana sinks into the couch and takes in the Bennetts with the quote above, you might find yourself smiling alongside her. If you’re like me, you may think back to Pride and Prejudice and remember how alone she once was. Now she too finds herself with the unconditional love of sisters, and for better or for worse, she is going to discover what it’s like when they meddle without a second thought.

Directed by Connie Canaday Howard, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley takes place two years after Pride and Prejudice. We find ourselves at the Darcy residence on Christmas Eve as Georgiana Darcy (Olivia Finkelstein) prepares to welcome her suitor, Henry Gray (Peter Alfano), to the home. The catch? She isn’t alone. Not only are Mr. Darcy (Keenan Odenkirk) and Elizabeth (Paige Klopfenstein) home for the holidays, but so are each of the Bennett sisters – Lydia (Leela Watts), Jane (Charlotte Foster), Mary (Elexis Selmon), and of course, her best friend, Kitty (Ksa Curry). To top it off, Henry’s friend, Thomas O’Brien (Daniel Millhouse) is joining the festivities, and he is just as ready as the Bennetts to meddle in the couple’s affairs. As might be expected, nothing quite goes according to plan, and as much as Kitty tries to support her friend, Georgiana might just find that nothing is ever simple on the path to love.

Howard’s production is full of joy and charm. Costume Designer Aly Greaves Amidei immediately transports the audience back into 1815 through her designs. The Bennett sisters’ dresses are stunning and add bright color to the Darcy home that is fully decked out for Christmas. Scenic Designers Jacqueline and Richard Penrod, in collaboration with Original Music and Sound Designer Christopher Kriz, fully immerse the audience into the holiday story for the eyes and ears.

As to be expected with a Jane Austen adaptation, the play certainly has its plot points involving true love. Not only does Georgiana find her soul mate in Henry, but Kitty also finds her own happiness with Thomas.  Finkelstein and Alfano bring a sweet, shy energy to the courtship – creating a relationship that you are sure to find yourself rooting for and hoping will succeed. Kitty and Thomas have a different approach, but one that is just as fun to watch unfold. The couple find their way to each other through the choice to meddle on behalf of their friends, and Curry and Millhouse infuse the relationship with high-energy and a mischievous humor. If you are a Jane Austen fan who loves watching the classic relationships grow despite their obstacles, you will find that the play certainly offers that access point.

However, something that you might also find to be special about this story is that it does not solely focus on the couples. The central relationship is actually the friendship between Georgiana and Kitty – two characters who have very little development in the original Austen story.  Curry and Finkelstein bring these characters to life with such creativity and delight. Much of the story explores these two younger sisters finding their voices amongst the noise of their elder siblings, and seeing Georgiana and Kitty support each other over the course of that journey adds to the holiday spirit.

Full of charm and holiday delight, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley is a joy from start to finish. If you are a long-time Jane Austen fan, this play certainly scratches the itch of those wanting to see the Bennett stories continue. If this is your first taste of the Austen world, there are still plenty of access points to make this a holiday story to remember.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Run Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, with intermission

Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley runs through December 21, 2025 at the McAninch Arts Center – 425 Fawell Blvd. For tickets and information, see the Buffalo Theatre Ensemble website.