Last Friday, ten of my delightful friends and I packed into the third (and fifth) rows of Riffe's Studio 2 to see Available Light's newest production: Dirty Math.
Frist let me say: it was nothing short of awesome.* In the big holy wow meaning of the word (not in the banana clips, jelly bracelets or pegged jeans way).
If you've never seen an Available Light show or think local theater isn't for you, I've got to say: this is the time to try it. Dirty Math is like the love child of Jon Stewart, Ira Glass and Jim Gaffigan.** It's at once laugh-out-loud funny and totally thoughtful. It's a better story slam than This American Life or The Moth ever pulled off. It's sidewalk chalk and Keynes. Rap and rhetoric. Frivolity and fear. It's the single most memorable thing you'll see this year.
What can I tell you about the story - it's a race through time that looks at how greed and gluttony shape our economies. The peaks and crashes that are always predictible and always a suprise.
Three of the Midwest's very best actors own the stage. With little propping and brilliant delivery, they take us through time (an emerging specialty of Available Light) in a way that's at once self-aware and entirely imaginative.
If you've been reading a David Sedaris tome and found yourself laughing out loud in a coffee shop or if you've read America and found yourself both giggling and thinking deeply >> well, you know the experience.
This is a play that can't be missed.
And, the best part: It's entirely homegrown. Written, produced, acted in Columbus.
Congratulations to Matt, Acacia, Ian, Jordan, Brandt, Emily, Artie, etc., etc. I'm going back tonight - can't wait to see it all again.
(*My one quibble: The derisive comment about SUV drivers (of which I am technically one >> I like to think of it as a mini SUV ... although, it's likely does not fit that description) being uncivic-minded, aka shitty to the environment. I think that's an over simplified view. Living a mile from work / play and driving an SUV seems like it nets out better than living 45 miles from work / play and driving a Prius. Just saying - our impact on the world is complex.)
(*We can't ever tell Artistic Director Matt Slaybaugh I said that. He'd likely be appalled - but, seriously, it's true)
Re: The SUV line.
Agreed. And you should ask Acacia about it. We spent about 15 minutes in rehearsal the night before opening trying to find a more-complete statement that could serve the same purpose, yet have the same impact and fit in the same amount of space.
It's not just over-simplified, it's also a brutish cliche, but the clock ran out on finding an alternative.
BUT, it's not too late to change it! DowntownAdvergirl or readers, suggest alternatives below. If there's one that gets the job done better than ours, we'll change it.
Oh, and haaaaaaat paaaaaaackehts!
Posted by: Matt Slaybaugh | 04/09/2009 at 10:42 AM
Fantastic offer, my friend.
My best line so far: fill up our gas tanks four times a month.
Show was brilliant again last night.
Posted by: Leigh | 04/10/2009 at 08:28 AM