THE HANGOVER REPORT – Abe Koogler’s KILL FLOOR is less than the sum of its considerable parts

IMG_5089Abe Koogler’s new play, Kill Floor, has a lot going for it. It’s beautifully and sensitively directed by Lila Neugebauer (whose work on last season’s production of A.R. Gurney’s The Wayside Motor Inn for the Signature Theatre was world-class). It’s aching, damaged characters have engaging stories and are brought to life by very fine actors who truly understand them.  It’s individual scenes crackle with authenticity, tough humor, and are compulsively watchable. So why doesn’t it all hang together? Unfortunately, Kill Floor, which is about the strained relationship between a sensitive teenager (Nicholas L. Ashe) and his estranged mom (Marin Ireland), is unable to find the right dramatic arc to to give us the emotional payoff that the characters deserve. It’s beautifully-written individual scenes, seen collectively, fail to create the momentum and inevitability necessary for this kind of searing drama to really sing. That being said, I truly think there’s something here and would welcome the chance to revisit a second draft.

Like I said, the production cannot be faulted. The cast acts the hell out of Mr. Koogler’s play, particularly Ms. Ireland, who is giving a fearless, emotionally raw performance (as she almost always does). Mr. Ashe also gives a performance of great skill and merit – you just want to go up on that stage and tell him everything’s going to be okay. Ms. Neugebauer’s direction is well-paced, although perhaps too cold, and is played out on Daniel Zimmerman’s appropriately uninviting set (precisely lit by Ben Stanton).

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KILL FLOOR
Off-Broadway, Play
LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater at the Claire Tow Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes (with no intermission)
Through November 15

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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