Sin Is In The Air

By John Farrell, Curtain Call Writer

There is a beauty in flying over the homes from the sky of the San Francisco Bay Area. But for Avery, (Christine Cummings,) the reporter who sees the city from the air every day, everything else in her life is in doubt.

In Wendy Macleod’s Sin, set on the weekend of the Loma Prieta earthquake, the seven deadly sins (you remember them) are personified by the people Avery knows. Her husband Michael (Matthew Anderson) is drunkenness, a doctor who consumes so much tequila his hands shakes. Her pilot Fred is (Jason Rogel) is envy. Her roommate Helen (Kaliko Kauahi) is gluttony.

In Amy Louise Sibelius’ production of Sin the actors sit on boxes around the theater’s periphery, watching the action. That action takes place on boxes in the middle of the Garage’s small theater. There is little action, few props, but Macleod’s dynamic and very funny dialogue is up front. Cummings is perfectly cast as Avery, a driven woman who eats nothing but healthy food and exercises regularly. She is thin and elegant and easy to believe. The other players are much more than just stereotypes: Fred is passionately unhappy and Helen eats everything and obsesses about it all.

The play is complex and very much of the 80s, with the AIDS epidemic and the earthquake up front. But it is also a classical tale, a modern version of a medieval play, a piece that is entertaining and effective and also leaves a lot for thought.

Tickets are $18 and $15 for students and seniors. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, through Nov. 2.

Details: (562) 433-8337; www.thegaragethatre.org
Venue: Garage Theatre
Location:251 E. 7th St., Long Beach