Running for Realism

IT'S A ROUGH AND SCARRING LIFE being a runaway, constantly full of troubles and drama But the Currier House production of Runaways tells us more about the problems of staging this play at Harvard than about the lives of any street kids. Runaways shoots for realism--harsh and stark and jolting this staging, for all the evident work and earnestness, never quite makes it.

A college of songs and monologues, Runaways originated in 1975 as a collaboration between author composer-director Elizabeth Swado, and actual runaways or "problem" children many of whom eventually appeared in the New York production. Swados--and the cast-succeeded in conveying the distinctive power of their perspectives and stories, but such an approach remains hard to transfer to a production by students, especially those restricted in both time and experience. The script does not develop the characters; it assumes their previous formation, and the actors in this production seem forced to bear their souls on cue, drawing on little consonant with the runaway experience.

THOUGH THE CHARACTERS often blend into each other, the cast makes an admirable effort to compensate with solid singing, well-primed and energetic dancing, and a fairly lively ensemble spirit. A number of performances shine, and the directors have nicely managed the shifts between the 40-odd spoken or sung segments. The inspired moments of the production come with upbeat numbers but quite a few monologues--especially those by Nikki (Karen Gordon)--are provocative or funny and sometimes both.

The stage, on the other hand, is both colorful and suitably. The runaways sing, declaim complain, fight, and run around in the freedom of a worn-down playground, replete with traffic signs and spray-painted graffiti on its wails. The band, visible through a wire fence off to the side, provides a steady but often disengaging sountrack for the runaways, exploits. The show peaks in Act II when the Inner City Breakers, a young street-styled trio, stage a friendly invasion onto the playground and perform some impressive rounds of break dancing. Although visibility could be better, the dancers bring the excitement and energy of a spraying city fire hydrant in the heat of August, a new a dramatic height, well-maintained despite a few disappointing lapses. "Enterprise", the song before the breaking segment is also a winner, sung deep and forcefully by Lois Johnson. Swados chose eclectic styles to compose in but she fared less well with punk than with reggae, the uplifting tune "We Are Not Strangers" done so well here. And with "The Basketball Song," the company shows off their street-wise brashness naturally and irresistibly.

AS IN THE BREAKFAST CLUB all the characters in Runaways harbor heavy doses of resentment against their parents. From the very first lines, parents and their failure to nurture and to love their kids are blamed for about 85 percent of the world's evils. That might be okay if the script were consistently kept to the runaways' perspectives out too often playwright's thetoric intrudes. This is particularly annoying in a monologue like. "To The Dead of Family Wars," though Lois Johnson musters up enough conviction and passion for the occasion.

"I say make laws against regret Otherwise you'd have to start at Adam and Eve/...It is so long this song, and so yearning."

Throughout the play, Swados's somewhat pushy poignancy and simplistic sociology cuts in like so many unruly school kids in the lunch line. She relays her statements less heavy-handedly in a song like "The Undiscovered Son," a comic and lonely fantasy about being the unknown child of various famous and pseudo-famous people. As Eddie, Jay Winthrop sings well and does a fine job of fusing the hope and resiliency so vital to a runaway's survival.

Directors Chang and Levendosky have taken on an ambitious first-time directorial effort. But while they coordinate a great mass of movement and drama, the play rarely hits the audience in the gut as hard as it seemingly tries to. Taken together, the music, songs, and soliloquies are more potent than the "shocking" depictions of rape, murder, and drug-dealing, which do not deliver much emotional impact; the mannerisms of the actors seem too rough and harsh, their earnestness and suffering too histrionic.

The directors have something in Runaways. Nurtured and disciplined more, this production could be provocative and entertaining.