PLAY OF THE WEEK: June 19, 2008Jump/Cut by Neena Beber

From The WOMEN'S PROJECT 2006 Production, left to right: Luke Kirby, Michi Barall, and Thomas Sadoski. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

If you've ever known anyone who has had to deal with manic-depression, Neena Beber's Jump/Cut is designed to hit you uncomfortably close to home.

Paul and Karen each search for love and success in life while their friend Dave, exhausted from dealing with his illness, is only searching for a way out. When Paul starts to make a documentary chronicling Dave's progress in hopes of advancing his own film career, he hopes the process will re-ignite Dave's own creativity and desire for life – in the end, it only ends gives him the way out that he was looking for.

Paul's admiration for Godard's Breathless and its use of the jump cut adds a intriguing layer to the scenes between the characters as they jump from past to present and address the audience directly as Jean Paul Belmondo did in that seminal film.

There's also plenty of humor to offset the gravity of Dave's losing battle. When Dave compares himself to a bridge that collapsed during a storm, he asserts that the bridge was beautiful even though ultimately unable to withstand the forces of nature. Moments like these make the play’s ending seem more humane than sad.

Scenes/Monologues: Scenes for 2 men; 1 man and 1 woman; 2 men and 1 woman.

Recommended by: Hans

Jump/Cut by Neena Beber
Acting Edition, Dramatists Play Service, 2008

Available from The DRAMA BOOK SHOP, Inc.