A Red Orchid Theatre’s “The Targeted”/Photo: Evan Hanover
“The Targeted,” a new play by Hanna Kime at A Red Orchid Theatre, is set in one of those rustic retreats that typically host Girl Scout jamborees. There are bunk beds in wooden cabins, and arrows that point out the way to the showers and the mess hall.
But the people gathered this weekend are not making lanyards and tie-dye shirts—this is a meeting of the “Solidarity and Truth Summit,” a conference for those who think that global powers are targeting them with systematic torture, surveillance and harassment. They are meeting to discuss ways to take down the deep state and stop their suffering.
It’s an intriguing idea, since conspiracies and their believers have become a bigger part of the national dialogue. The tinfoil-hat brigade has evolved from handing out mimeographed pamphlets in train stations to having a big media presence on YouTube or serving in political office. Directed by Grace Dolezal-Ng, the ninety-minute show has many funny moments, with wonderful performances by Red Orchid regulars Kirsten Fitzgerald, Lawrence Grimm, Sadieh Rifai and Natalie West.
A Red Orchid Theatre’s “The Targeted,” with Kirsten Fitzgerald, Natalie West and Sadieh Rifai/Photo: Evan Hanover
Unfortunately, the story of this strange community is too thin. It’s hard to know how to feel about these people, since so much about them is unknown.
For example, we learn that the endearingly kooky Didi (West) has a dead child. But we don’t know how the child died—was Didi at fault? It’s okay to leave some things ambiguous in a story, but this is too big a hole to leave unfilled. We can laugh at Didi with her lead-lined floral robe and hat, which looks like sofa upholstery and is supposed to guard her from microwaves (clever costume design by Stephanie Cluggish). It’s impossible for West not to be funny—every line delivery is a lesson in comic timing. But we don’t know if Didi is a killer, a fraud, or just a sad and disturbed woman, whose condition is not being helped by being around these other kooks.
The same goes for Fitzgerald’s character, Rhonda, an intense, opinionated autocrat who goes around cutting supposed mind-control implants out of people’s arms and has a weird fixation on the former child actress Amanda Bynes. We don’t know what we’re supposed to think of her, or of the retreat leader, Jeff (Grimm). He may have influenced another “targeted” individual to kill a nurse and then commit suicide. He also cries a lot, so it’s not clear if we’re supposed to hate him or feel sorry for him. It’s all rather confusing, which makes it hard to care.
A Red Orchid Theatre’s “The Targeted,” Glenn Obrero and Stephanie Shum/Photo: Evan Hanover
Much of the action in the show turns on Mia (Stephanie Shum), a medical student who has accompanied her brother Eric (Glenn Obrero) to the retreat in the hope of understanding him. Mia loves her brother, who sleeps under a tinfoil blanket, but is perplexed by his paranoia and selfishness. The play’s most powerful moment is when Mia confronts Jeff about his responsibility for promoting conspiracy theories, though Mia’s tirade fizzles, and the confrontation doesn’t lead to any change.
The play may be trying to make the point that people who believe in odd conspiracies are still human and deserve our empathy, attention and understanding. This is a fine idea, and this is at times an entertaining play. But with such thin, ambiguous characters, the show can’t find its emotional target.
A Red Orchid Theatre’s “The Targeted” is on stage at the Chopin Theater, 1543 West Division, extended through June 21. Tickets available here.
