Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – MJ Kaufman’s precious SAGITTARIUS PONDEROSA feels incomplete

• By drediman
• November 8, 2016
• No Comments

The company of NAATCO’s “Sagittarius Ponderosa” at 3LD Art & Technology Center

Yesterday evening, I caught a performance of MJ Kaufman’s overly precious Sagittarius Ponderosa at the 3LD Art & Technology Center all the way downtown, courtesy of the National Asian American Theatre Company (or “NAATCO”, which this year is celebrating its 25^th anniversary). Although I admired director Ken Rus Schmoll’s fluid, quietly immersive runway staging, I found the play itself to be lacking. At just over an hour, this philosophical play about loss, family, and the circle of life unfortunately comes across as skeletal and incomplete, feeling very much like a first draft.

The performances, too, rarely rise above merely adequate, which further accentuates the deficiencies of the text – even with veteran actors like Mia Katigbak (a NAATCO co-founder) in the cast. That being said, it’s always a pleasure to see Asian American actors gracing the boards of New York. I just wished they had a better vehicle than the dull Sagittarius Ponderosa.  Let’s hope that NAATCO’s next outing yields something more theatrically satisfying.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

SAGITTARIUS PONDEROSA
Off-Broadway, Play
NAATCO at 3LD Art & Technology Center
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 19