REVIEW: Here she comes! Miss Teen a magical family comedy
Vancouver playwright Michele Riml is best known for her Sexy Laundry, a spirited comedy in which a middle-aged couple check into a posh hotel to rejuvenate their flagging 25 year marriage. A while back, the play was given a very funny mounting by director John Hudson for Shadow Theatre.
This week at the Varscona Theatre until Feb. 10, Shadow has opened a world premiere by Riml that shows a whole new side of the playwright. Miss Teen is a family drama powered not so much by comedy but by the bonds of love, dollops of wit and the persistence of family.
Coco (Kristi Hansen) is a young suburban mother with two children, teenager Margaret (Emily Howard) and 12-year-old Nicole (Emma Houghton). Her husband is dying of cancer in a room just off the kitchen. Coco is the product of a number of foster homes and never had much of a chance at a life until she had her own family. She tells her daughters of the time when she was a teenager and was a princess on a float. Hoping to give her eldest daughter something of the same experience, she enters her in a local Miss Teen contest.
Observes her somewhat gangly daughter, “Look at me – do I look like a Miss Teen?”
To everyone’s surprise – she wins, which brings Dusty (Patricia Cerra) into their lives. Dressed for action and full of brisk energy, she engineers the complete makeover of her teenage charge.
“The Miss Teen Pageant requires training and discipline. Think Navy Seals,” she barks.
Meanwhile Coco dreams of a way out of her poverty-stricken life – seeing her daughter conquering the world of pageants and securing the university education the family could never afford.
The family dynamic may be changed by all this, but Riml manages to maintain the bond between them. Mom may be dreaming of a new life, but in Hansen’s portrayal her devotion remains steadfast and sure. Determined and strong-minded, she tells her daughter, “I would never tell you to do something you didn’t want to. You just don’t know how important this is to you.”
Margaret, a bit bemused by it all, but challenged and intrigued by what’s going on, is giving the process her best.
In the midst of this is a performance that really stands out. Margaret’s younger sister is probably lightly touched by Asperger’s. They refer to her as “special,” and in the hands of the talented actor Emma Houghton, she sure is. When outrageous things happen to others, Nicole just stands there staring as if not believing what she’s seeing. Her timing is hilarious and her speeches cut through the absurdity of all that’s going on around her. Of them all, Nicole is the one who sees things the way they are. Yet she loves her sister and mother and goes gamely along.
The basic plot of Miss Teen is a familiar one – the plain Jane who blooms under pressure but in the end comes to realize that family and relationships are what really count (see Dumplin’ currently on Netflix). And while Riml may sometimes approach the rocky shores of melodrama, she refuses to give into mawkishness. She provides her outstanding cast with the tools to keep it real – an ability that has also marked the work of director John Hudson for the past 30 years or so.
All this takes place in C.M. Zubi’s artful set that visualizes both the modest kitchen and the stylized world of beauty contests. Darrin Hagen’s music, tart, with just a taste of sentiment, holds the evening together. Leona Brausen’s costumes effectively spring from the text.
When everything falls apart, Coco realizes that she had come to believe that something “magical” was happening. Well, it was – just not on a stage surrounded by faux-princesses. The magic was in that modest kitchen where three needy, loving and caring women were sharing an authentic life.
Photos by Marc J. Chalifoux
