THE HANGOVER REPORT – Don Nguyen’s sitcom-ish HELLO, FROM THE CHILDREN OF PLANET EARTH is unfortunately earthbound

Olivia Oguma in The Playwrights Realm production of Don Nguyen's "Hello, from the Children of Planet Earth" at The Duke on 42nd Street.

Olivia Oguma in The Playwrights Realm production of Don Nguyen’s “Hello, from the Children of Planet Earth” at The Duke on 42nd Street.

This past week, I caught a performance of Don Nguyen’s new play Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth at The Duke on 42nd Street in a premiere production from the folks at The Playwrights Realm. The play depicts two parallel stories – one, about a lesbian couple trying, unsuccessfully, to procreate; the other, about a nerdy NASA engineer endeavoring to keep in touch with a early prototype Voyager probe as it reaches the outer limits of our solar system.

Unfortunately, despite the eye-catching premise, Mr. Nguyen’s play falls prey to young, early stage playwright habits. Primarily, his characters more often than not strike the wrong note – they telegraph their thoughts and emotions as opposed to letting them come organically from within. As an allegory for our forward moving, ever changing lives, the Voyager’s (ironically, the most human of Mr. Nguyen’s characters) journey is the one that touched me the most.

The Playwrights Realm has in the past has produced, in impressively polished fashion, some striking new works. Indeed, Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, Mfoniso Udofia Sojourners, and Anna Ziegler’s A Delicate Ship – all superb new plays – quickly come to mind. Unfortunately, Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth falls below the theater company’s usually high standards, falling squarely in sitcom land.

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HELLO, FROM THE CHILDREN OF PLANET EARTH
Off-Broadway, Play
The Playwrights Realm at The Duke on 42nd Street
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 24

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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