Oh, Those Wacky Theater People
By Dominique Paul Noth
For the last few seasons, a company called The Constructivists has been establishing a self-described shoestring operation and intriguing “dark avenue” into the arts scene, tenaciously asking for consideration with the major professional theater companies but long held back by union requirements and its catchall homes. Other theater companies also started out in such uncertain circumstances, but by dint of their insights and growing expertise commanded larger attention.
With its last show of this season the Constructivists deserve such recognition, too, with a caustic two-hander that reaches for first class acting and generational appeal. It ostensibly takes place when a famous playwright father, David, and his theatrically-attuned daughter, Ella, are carousing at home while he shares his “to hell with the critics” philosophy that won him a Pulitzer and Tonys while they are waiting for the opening night review of a Chekhov play she is in. The gossipy trappings of theater fame and history unfold in sneering dissection of celebrity names and those constant dreads of all celebrities, the critics.
In fact, much of the fun of I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard is watching the bile pile up on all these theatrical types, which certainly seems David’s mode of operation that he is trying to pass on to his daughter. You’ll quickly discover that theater people are even more foul-mouthed than the general public, but oh so clever.
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