(OUTview NW) THEATER RE-view: Artswest's All-Star Cast, 'Really Really' is Really Really Good!

What is Cooper's Agenda?            (Brunk)

by MK Scott

It is hard to imagine that there are cruel people in this life with secret agendas, but there is and most of those are screwed up by abuse of some kind and they crave the drama they can create. I have lived this and friends have lived it when college life brings all those dysfunctions to the surface.

This  past weekend at West Seattle's Artswest Playhouse, they went there and took the daring move to tell the story that is so politically incorrect that most theaters would steer away from this story of  Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Really Really directed by Makaela Pollock.

The set (by Julia Whelch) is 2 Apartments the top one is nicely decorated that features Leigh (Jessi Little) and Grace (Annelih Hamilton) coming home drunk from a party and bragging about Leigh having sex with a guy she always wanted. Leigh is upset that the guy never called her after their encounter.


The lower apartment is the guys apartment, messy and filled with beer cans. Davis (Riley Shanahan, most recently reviewed in John Baxter) wakes up and tells the often shirtless, Cooper (Joshua Chessin-Yudin, most recently reviewed in My Manana) and Johnson (the always Fab, Frederick Hagreen, most recently reviewed in American Idiot) that he has no memory of what happened the night before.

So, No Baby?             (Brunk)

We meet Leigh's Affluent and controlling boyfriend, Jimmy (The ab-licious, Jordon Taylor who made us blush in American Idiot) who was trapped into impending marriage by Leigh's "bun in the oven". Get it? Later, Leigh breaks down and tells Jimmy that Davis raped her at the party and now she has lost the baby. Huh?

In Act 2, we meet Leigh's hysterical and sassy sister, Haley (Anna Kasabyan, who was the best part of SPT's 'Bad Jews' this past fall) and we get a glimpse into Leigh's background of abuse from their father and that there was never any baby to begin with.

But did the Rape actually happen, because we see Davis as he goes into violent outburst. This is a Classic He Said/She Said but no one is completely innocent.

The Shocking Truth comes out at the end, or Does It? For this it is the audience to decide and the much needed important discussion after the performance moderated by Artswest's Managing Director, Laura Lee is just as important as the production itself. Just last week, Seattle Rep dealt with race and religion with 'Disgraced' and had a discussion about it. In 'Really Really', like 'Disgraced' everyone had a secret agenda.


Really Really continues through February 14, 2016 at Artswest. Click HERE for Tix and Info.