The Road Theatre Company

Deep in the woods of downstate Illinois, three boyhood friends come together on a hunting trip.

Now middle aged and on separate paths, they find that the common thread of memory is being stretched to the breaking point. Can the war in Iraq reach even these secluded woods and destroy their frienship forever?

View the trailer for Lady

Mark Doerr
Matt Kirkwood
Shawn Michael Patrick

Los Angeles Times Critic's Choice

“CRITIC'S CHOICE ...Stephen Gifford's elegant, troubling set signals that the Road Theatre production of Craig Wright's "Lady," now at the Lankershim Arts Center, will take us into uncertain territory. Wright sets up a juicy premise: The embittered Dyson (Shawn Michael Patrick) and sweet stoner Kenny (Matt Kirkwood) are waiting for Graham (Mark Doerr), a former classmate turned congressman, to show up for a reunion/hunting trip. As the morning wears on, Dyson reveals he's got more than fur in his target range: It seems Graham's recent patriotic speech about exporting freedom to the world has inspired Dyson's son to enlist. If the politician can't talk the kid out of the recruitment office, Dyson plans to kill him. Scott Allan Smith directs his solid trio with clarity. The play could be longer -- Wright's characters earn our curiosity. The three men are tied by an early, near-death experience, but we don't get a visceral sense of that incident. And Dyson's philandering, central to the play's conflict, is never explored in any depth. Still, "Lady" is the kind of intense theater that can make small performance spaces in Los Angeles cause for celebration."
- LOS ANGELES TIMES (read story)

"THEATER PICK...The Lady here is a hunting dog with an avid taste for Pop Tarts, but her story is only one strand in Craig Wright’s complex tale of three old friends on a hunting trip. Lady’s friend and owner is Kenny (Matt Kirkwood), a goodhearted slacker who spends his days watching old movies and smoking the medical marijuana supplied to his cancer-afflicted wife. He hates political talk because, like Rodney King, he wants everybody to just get along, though there’s little chance of that once Dyson (Shawn Michael Patrick) and Graham (Mark Doer) get together. Dyson served as a campaign manager for Graham during his successful run for Congress on the Democratic ticket. Once elected, Graham turned neocon Republican, ardently supporting American supremacy and the Iraq War. Militant pacifist Dyson regards this as betrayal and blames Graham for his son’s decision to join the Marines and risk his life in Iraq. Wright’s taut drama is less political debate than examination of the unpredictable ways in which conflicting ideologies undermine old loyalties, bonds of friendship fray, and lurking hostilities turn murderous. Scott Alan Smith directs with a sure, subtle hand, eliciting eloquent performances from his three actors on Stephen Gifford’s handsome, semi-abstract set."
-LA WEEKLY (read story)

“The performances are solid and believable, each actor successfully portraying the subtleties of these "regular guys." Patrick brings a fine balance of dark and light to the anguished Dyson, Kirkwood shows a vivid poignancy as Kenny, and Doerr is spot-on as the congressman who is torn between his down-home upbringing and the allure of Washington. Scott Alan Smith's direction is crisp and straightforward. The set, by Stephen Gifford, is stunning and evocative, as is the lighting by Derrick McDaniel." - Hoyt Hilsman
- BACK STAGE WEST (read story)

"Even if not thoroughly likable, the characters are certainly recognizable in this thinker of a play. You don't necessarily connect the guy who created the TV series "Dirty Sexy Money" to the same creative time zone as the play "Lady" at NoHo's The Road Theatre.But playwright Craig Wright is nothing if not a diverse chap, as his output, both tube ("Brothers & Sisters," "Six Feet Under") and stage ("The Pavilion," "Recent Tragic Events"), demonstrates.

"Lady," a deceptively simple play about three longtime friends on a hunting trip, is a thorny thinker. At The Road, director Scott Allan Smith and cast members Shawn Michael Patrick, Matt Kirkwood and Mark Doerr bring it to a vibrant boil. A peace-loving pothead named Kenny (Kirkwood) and his less patient pal Dyson (Patrick) are in the woods for their annual go at bird hunting. Kenny has lost his dog, Lady, somewhere in the forest. Dyson is smarting over clashes both with his 18-year-old son, Duncan, and with fellow hunting buddy and longtime pal Graham, who is leaning too far to the right for Dyson's taste since his election to Congress.

If Graham (Doerr) - who doesn't appear until some 30 minutes in - doesn't agree to make a persuasive phone call, Dyson vows to murder him. Dyson's not crazy, and you believe he just might do it.

The issues in play here swirl around questions of accountability, regret and conflicting visions of the future. Whatever Wright's politics or his stance on the Iraq conflict may be, he has no difficulty muddying his characters. Dyson may be on the side of the angels, but he's also got some serious problems. And Graham, who we firmly expect to be the Antichrist, makes some rather compelling arguments, too.

It's to both Doerr's and Patrick's credit that the push-pull tension between Graham and Dyson plays so effectively. Patrick especially ("Lady" is every bit his play) burrows deeply into Dyson's human weaknesses. He makes the character, if not entirely likable, certainly recognizable.

Doerr's Graham clearly sheds any political slickness around his friends, but can summon rhetoric and moral superiority when necessary. And Kirkwood's sweetly suffering Kenny - caught between his two friends' ideologies and sucker punched by life (the character's wife has cancer and Lady is doomed), gives the play yet another pillar. In short, this "Lady" is a beauty. "
-DAILY NEWS

“Once again, all around excellence prevails! Having seen and reviewed their plays for 10 years, I highly applaud their constant vision, dedication, instincts and immense talents! . . . 'Lady,' a powerful and deeply involving drama, flawlessly acted and directed, mesmerized the audience throughout, in a collective hushed silence . . . This is a beautifully written, 'hard-hitting' script, penned by Craig Wright . . . Under the intensely focused direction of Scott Alan Smith, an incredible trio of heartbreakingly realistic performances unfolds. Bravo!" -Pat Taylor
- TOLUCAN TIMES

"Politically charged Lady is not to be missed; a top notch production...In Craig Wright’s politically-charged play about three longtime friends out on a hunting trip, the mystery of the play’s title is resolved right before the stage lights up. “Lay-dee!” is bellowed out from the darkness. Ah! One of the characters has a dog named Lady.

It appears that this annual get-together of the three fellows – friends since grad school days – has become more fraught as the years pass by. As these men have matured, their individual value systems have diverged, creating argument where once there was the carefree laughter of their youth.
Thanks to his sharply observed interactions, Wright’s play crackles with energy as the three friends struggle with their memories, their beliefs and their humanity in a world where politics is pervasive, reaching far beyond the White House and the Iraqi front lines and seeping into the woods of downstate Illinois.

Not one note of this play rings false and not one moment is wasted in this punchy, 90-minute drama with flashes of humor. Lady is a superb play featuring excellent performances and staging on a clever set design from Stephen Gifford. Not to be missed."
-STUDIO CITY SUN

"IMPRESSIVE...Craig Wright, who created "Dirty Sexy Money," exhibits impressive craftsmanship in "Lady," distilling America's conflicted allegiance to the U.S.'s current involvement in Iraq down to a traumatic confrontation among three middle-aged men who were once childhood pals. ... helmer Scott Alan Smith admirably imbues their often-arbitrary agendas with an unrelenting tension. Projecting an amalgam of anger, confusion, sorrow and regret, the three come to realize that what is broken in their relationship can never be mended.

... Patrick offers a believable portrait of this complicated personality. Despite projecting a high level of wit and intelligence, Patrick's Dyson is nonetheless lethally psychotic...

Doerr's Graham... and... his mano a mano confrontation with Dyson offers plausible arguments for his shift from ultra liberal youth to the right wing political machine he has become since residing in D.C.

In the most memorable portrayal, Kirkwood's Kenny embodies the mildly addled melancholy of an incomplete soul who is watching everything he holds dear disappear in front of him. Smiling crookedly at the remnants of his life, he tangibly begins to shift from a reality he can't endure to a romanticized fantasy of the past that will have to sustain him from now on.

Stephen Gifford's sets, Derrick McDaniel's lights and Mary Jane Miller's costumes perfectly project the proper environment for this wilderness adventure. But "David B. Marling's sound design becomes another character in the play, bombarding these three hunters with the awareness of their fragile mortality in the vicinity of other men with guns." –Julio Martinez
- VARIETY (read story)

“Shawn Michael Patrick as Dyson and Matt Kirkwood as Kenny both give absolutely sensational performances. Mark Doerr has the somewhat smaller and less emotional role of Graham, but he is no less excellent, making the hateful politician almost upsettingly sympathetic….Lady is a production where superlatives are merited all around, with writing, direction, acting, and design elements all at the highest level. I guarantee that you'll be talking about Lady long after the house lights come up…. Writing this fine deserves a production at the same level, and that is precisely what The Road has provided, proof once again that this is a "must-see" theater company." -Steven Stanley
- LA STAGE SCENE (read story)

"The writing is exceptional," and "Director Scott Alan Smith's brilliant production, with this flawless ensemble cast, the acting is impeccable, delivers a sucker punch that you never see coming." -Gerri Garner's Entertainment File
- AMERICAN RADIO NETWORK

“VERY EFFECTIVE...Playwright Craig Wright is less inscrutable than Beckett. He writes clear, realistic dialogue—and characters whose pain is palpable. In Lady the pain is the pain of loss. . .loss of innocence and ideals. Loss of a wife. Loss of a son. Loss of a friendship. As Graham notes, "We were lost together. Now we're lost apart. All three of these actors are as good as they can possibly be, and it is a distinct pleasure to watch each of them. Director Scott Alan Smith moves them around the nearly barren stage with a natural pacing and sharp attention to each change of mood."
- CURTAIN UP (read story)

"Wright gives us an intimate play concerned more with individuals than rehashing a debate over the war. In fact, when the play finally gets around to actually having the argument about the war, it isn't argued particularly well on either side. But presenting the best arguments against (or for) the war isn't really what Lady is about. It's about how the war - and disagreements over it - impact the lives of three friends.

The performances are strong, drawing realistic yet slightly stereotypical characters. Matt Kirkwood's turn as Kenny is the highlight. Kenny's reluctance to take sides is the personification of American apathy. But Kenny - although he's clearly the slowest of the three - does have opinions and feelings, and Kirkwood's reactions when Kenny thinks the other two are steam rolling over him are something that should serve as a lesson for politicians everywhere. Shawn Michael Patrick's Dyson spends the first scene of the play patiently trying to coax an opinion out of Kenny, and when he finally explodes with what has been troubling him, we can see why something about his delivery in that scene seemed a little less than genuine. Mark Doerr initially has Graham speak with the sort of quiet finality that comes from someone who knows he is in the position of power, but this rips away (a bit too early for my tastes) to reveal a man with a lot of anger.

Lady can't possibly resolve an issue as complicated as America's involvement in Iraq in its 90-minute running time. It does, however, beautifully illustrate what happens when three lives that were once on the same path diverge and briefly cross again."
-TALKINBROADWAY.COM (read story)

Producers:
Kate Mines
Shannon Morris