Play Review: ‘Thoughts & Prayers’: point-blank but far-fetched

Illustration by Ian Loomis

By Ian Loomis
Contributor

At a mind-bending 417 incidents, there were more mass shootings in the U.S. in 2019 than there are days in a year, according to CBS. It’s the horrifying truth of the triggering true-life dystopia in which we live. You can’t make this stuff up. There’s no fiction in the thousands of victims of these incidents. There’s no solace in giving those who’ve already lost loved ones your thoughts and prayers.

With such a prominent and regular catastrophe on American soil, there are many stories that need telling. So, when A. M. Dean’s “Thoughts & Prayers” made its world premiere at Ypsilanti’s Riverside Arts Center the weekend of Feb. 28, it seemed like the perfect show to represent these trying times—but was it perfect?

Following the discovery of a gun and a manifesto directly mentioning his and his mother’s name, Andy Webber has little time to cope with the whirlwind of events that follow: the government intervention in the school’s dynamic, the panic mongered in the teachers to fear the students, and the militarization of the school—including Andy’s mother, a teacher at the school who is horrified and haunted by the young man who sought to murder her and her son. It’s a powerful gridlock of emotions, with courses of action that ultimately send things avalanching out of control.

Despite its point-blank attitude, however, one plot point the show circles like a vulture was what drew me out of the otherwise well-established tension. The first scene sets up most of the characters, including Sarah Allistair, the agent assigned to put Andy’s school on high alert. A number of topics come to light, including… reincarnation? As fantastical as it sounds, the idea of being possessed by a prior life is centrifugal to the story’s course. However, I can’t help but feel like the play would be all the tenser had it remained entirely grounded in our day- to-day lives, which still strike fear even without the use of supernatural incidents.

Despite this qualm and the confusion that stemmed from it—which for all I know could have been intentional—the show established its tone very well via its spectacular actors—my favorite being Mike Sandusky, who played Jeff—and made my heart sink at its anxiety-inducing climax.

Neighborhood Theatre Group practices exclusively original works, including “Thoughts & Prayers,” which runs through March 8 at Riverside Arts Center.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated for clarity.