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Theater Presents Intellectual Masterwork By Greg Eichelberger The East County Californian SANTEE - Going to see Eternal Reach, the newest production of the relatively new Chatter Box Theater seemed a bit awkward at first. After all, East County certainly supports live performances - big, brassy musicals from CCT, and light comedy or murder/mysteries from Lamplighters - but would they go for a show as avante garde and cerebral as Bob Siegel’s original play concerning the meaning of life and the afterlife? Ah, therein lies the rub. Southern California native and current Santee resident, Nathanael Siegel, directs the one-act drama written by his father, Robert Siegel, in the 1970s and first performed in 1981. The cast of four includes Siegel as 19-year-old David Miller, George L. Blum as psychiatrist Dr. Edmund Hoffman, Jeremy Dean Turner as working stiff Bill Morgan and El Cajon’s Sherry Evans as divorced mother Marsha Billings. Production design is by Chris Hatcher. The threadbare stage consists of just four chairs bolted to each corner. Eternal Reach is an interesting experience in which four strangers awake in a mysterious inescapable metallic cell (are they dead? It would seem so). The only clue to their whereabouts is a written message on a wristband each wears: “You will be asked to explain the meaning of life.” In an attempt to explain what’s going on, they lay bare each other’s concept of what their existence was all about. Most of these walls are knocked down by Miller, who committed suicide, and combines an arrogant, nasty cynicism with an almost childlike naiveté. He does have plenty of bite, however, deriding Morgan as worshiping the concept of working all his life; and Billings for staying with a man who cheated on her. It’s a riveting and impressive performance. “I think a lot of times I will put myself into the characters I portray,” Siegel said. “My father wrote this when he was a young man and while I have had different experiences, I can still relate to what he was thinking about. It’s a very well written and provocative work and I’m proud to direct and act in it.” As Morgan and Billings exit, supposedly to be judged, the most introspective conversation takes place between Miller and Hoffman, who attempts to enlighten the young man regarding the dichotomy of nature, the good and the bad of man, searching for the truth and the existence of God, among other things. Sometimes there are just so many words a play can have, and while Eternal Reach has plenty of them, they are - for the most part - very profound and very important. And while Evans isn’t given much of an opportunity to shine, she still excels in her limited stage time. Her male counterparts are presented with much more meaty roles, however. In his acting debut, Turner is a revelation. His character is the first to “wake” up in the cell and steadily grows more frightened and freaked out by the whole thing. His is probably the most realistic reaction of the quartet as to what is happening. A veteran of a dozen or more local shows, Blum also does very well with his understated, yet moving portrayal of the doctor. More Plays |