Amanda Powell, Hillary Marren, Linda Augusta Orr/Photo: Shawn Cagle
The champagne starts to flow only minutes into Leslye Headland’s caustic tale of women behaving badly. And it’s not too long before coke, pills and pot follow. Soon enough there’s a ripped dress, shattered glass, several liquids and smashed wedding gifts littering Scott Davis’ efficiently compact hotel room set. Vitriol dominates the dialogue, with maid of honor Regan (Hillary Marren) and her two unwitting guests Katie (Linda Augusta Orr) and Gena (a stellar Amanda Powell) spending much of the opening scene berating the unseen bride-to-be, mostly for her weight.
Several moments are undeniably powerful: Gena’s heartbreak at a secret revealed, Katie’s drunken, giddy laughing fit, and the rip-roaring finale between Regan and Becky (Rakisha Pollard), but director Darrell W. Cox lets the energy go flat too often. An eighty-five-minute show this filled with intentionally shocking material should never feel slow. There seems to be some lesson about superficiality and self-loathing hiding in here, but it doesn’t quite make it to the surface. (Zach Freeman)
Profiles Theatre, 4147 North Broadway, (773)549-1815. $35-$40. Through March 11.
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