“Smoking Lesson” Lights up the Loeb Ex

UPDATED: Feb. 25, 2013, at 11 p.m.

Three naïve teenagers, a tormented young man, and the boredom of suburban life come together to catastrophic effect in the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s production of “Smoking Lesson” by Julia Jordan, which runs from Feb. 21 to March 1. The result is a contemplative, thought-provoking production that resonates due to the great cast and creative usage of the set.

The play touches upon numerous social problems, including unemployment and mental disability, but its greatest strength lies in its effective depiction of the self-destructive side of teenage boredom. Tare (Julianna N. Sass ’17), Mary Kate (Alexandra M. Kiley ’15), and Lisa Ann (Alice Abracen ’15) are 15-year-olds growing up somewhere along the banks of the Mississippi. Haunted by the memory of their friend, Pearl, an older girl who committed suicide, they gather every year to commemorate her death. It is unclear whether they put on the ceremony for Pearl’s own sake or simply for a moment of relief from the stifling closeness of adolescence. It is that desire for release, excitement, and a little danger which eventually draws the characters into a tempestuous, emotionally charged relationship with the town layabout, Tom (Archie I.H. Stonehill '17).

The pathos of the storyline is perhaps best conveyed by Sass, who does an outstanding job as the fate-tempting, thrill-seeking Tare, the ringleader of the three girls. Sass can and does switch from humorous to angry to heartbroken in an instant without seeming false or overly scripted; her performance draws the audience into Tare’s world. In one scene, Mark Kate and Lisa Ann accuse Tare of deserting them in order to be with Tom. The fight appears seemingly out of nowhere and  is gone just as quickly; Sass accomplishes the rapid emotional shifts from hurt to defensive to apologetic superbly, making Tare a sympathetic character even in her most self-centered or reckless moments.

Her counterpart in the play is Tom, a 20-something delinquent mysteriously connected to Pearl’s death. Although slightly less relatable than Sass, Stonehill also does an excellent job conveying the complexity and emotional turmoil of his character. Held back by crippling grief and self-blame, Tom vacillates between kindness and violence. Stonehill adeptly handles these transitions, especially as the relationship between his character and Tare becomes more explosive. At one point in the production, Tom carefully keeps watch over a sleeping Tare; in the next scene, he throws her to the ground and threatens her. Throughout the play, Stonehill is completely believable; Tom’s anger, when it comes, is forceful and intimidating, yet Stonehill succeeds in showing the pain lying beneath Tom’s stormy exterior.

The play manages to thrive in a minimalist set design. Props are few and far between with the exception of a seemingly endless array of fake cigarettes. Otherwise, a rope swing, a few crates, and a wooden bridge support are the only scenery. The fact that the entire play takes place in a single location makes this easier, but the creativity with which director Lelaina E. Vogel ’15 incorporates the props into the actors’ movements allows the play to shine. Nothing is superfluous: each piece of scenery is meaningful and ultimately essential to the play’s forward motion. The play steadily picks up speed until the last few scenes, which are a whirlwind of intensity and raw emotion.

However, the play does encounter some of the issues typical of a black-box production. The intimacy of the Loeb Ex occasionally works against the play; the beginning feels somewhat stilted and the actors appear much more self-conscious in the first few scenes, particularly that of Pearl’s memorial. The actors speak directly to the audience, foregoing a connection with other actors  on the stage yet failing to relate to the viewers.

These are only details, though; “Smoking Lesson” is both poignant and effective. In the space of only an hour, it delivers a profoundly personal rendering of the ways in which grief and the claustrophobia of adolescence can permanently mark lives. Sass, Kiley, and Abracen are convincing as girls driven not only by the loss of a friend but also by the all-encompassing, suffocating boredom so familiar to most teenagers. After the play has reached its shocking, heartbreaking denouement, Sass utters her last lines: “I’ve never been anywhere! We never do anything!” Long after the words stop echoing, the sensation of desolation and loneliness lingers, proving that “Smoking Lesson” is an emotional punch to the gut.