Northlight’s “Brooklyn Laundry,” with Mark Montgomery and Cassidy Slaughter-Mason/Photo: Michael Brosilow
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There is no “meet cute” moment in John Patrick Shanley’s “Brooklyn Laundry.” Instead, the main characters meet agitated and flustered. Those two characters are Owen (Mark Montgomery) and Fran (Cassidy Slaughter-Mason), who enters the scene with a bag one pound under the minimum load (a cruel reminder of her relatively new single status). The two do not naturally get along, and Fran is surprised when he asks her out for dinner. An even bigger surprise is how well the two work together. Family medical dramas, however, greatly threaten the course of this budding romance.
“Brooklyn Laundry” is by no means a lighthearted comedy. A dramedy weighted heavy on the drama side of things, the script offers up not one, but two health-stricken sisters who are each allowed a heartfelt meditation on the shortness of life (Marika Mashburn as Fran’s sister Trish delivers a scene stealing performance with an absolutely perfectly delivered monologue). Other misfortunes arrive as well (again in multiples) which risk sending the play into a type of pity-porn production. Artistic Director BJ Jones’ direction, however, prevents this from occurring—the emphasis of the production is squarely on the potential as well as the limitation of the principal characters, who often get knocked down, but then somehow find a way to get back up.
Northlight’s “Brooklyn Laundry,” with Mark Montgomery and Cassidy Slaughter-Mason/Photo: Michael Brosilow
Also highlighted nicely throughout this production are John Patrick Shanley’s clever dialogues, which reveal the essential nature of the two star-crossed lovers. Owen (played exceptionally well by Montgomery) rants freely about the need to choose from what life actually offers and not be sent off track by any of that “romantic bullshit.” Meanwhile Fran, a mesmerizing Cassidy Slaughter-Mason, lives dead center in reality’s often shitty world of choices. It is the consequences of her making choices that propels the action forward, with Owen ultimately having to choose among life’s actual offered options.
Credit also to Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s towering set design (a gritty industrial spectacle featuring hundreds of laundered items looming over the actors on a massive treadmill) for setting a fatalistic and dark undercurrent. That, as well as JR Lederle’s edgy lighting design, effectively showcases this well-produced and polished production. While “Brooklyn Laundry” may not be for the faint of heart, it does perfectly comment on the often absurdity of life’s choices.
On stage at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie. Tickets available at (847)673-6300 or northlight.org. $49-$89 (student tickets $15). Through May 12.
