Since the time of Cain and Abel, it is hard to imagine two brothers who are farther apart than Inside Brother and Outside Brother. Or is their distance part of the stories we tell ourselves to make us feel better? Such are the questions posed by Gabriel Jason Dean’s world premiere masterwork, RIFT, now playing at Luna Stage.
Directed by Luna’s Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith, Dean’s riveting work comes to enervating life. Outside Brother (Blake Stadnik), when we first meet, is visiting Inside Brother (Matt Monaco) in prison. Inside is covered with tattoos that are literally the story of his life and affiliations during his long incarceration. Inside is working to advance his status in the White Supremacist structure on the inside as he seeks to fulfill his very human need for affiliation. He speaks to Outside of his choices and compares their two somewhat different upbringings. Outside sees Inside’s current life as the result of a long line of bad choices, yet as they reconnect and remember who they are as brothers there is something that seems to click-lock into place. Though their current circumstances, choices and mind sets are fairly far apart in their first meeting, we get to see them over time. Dean has distilled the experiences and conversations he’s had with his own brother into a very heady and compelling homebrew that burns the heart and excites the senses.
Monaco vibrates with the bottled energy of a warm carbonated soft drink, aching to burst out of his skin. We can almost see the ripples of his skin in his agitation and deeply buried emotion. Emotion, after all, when worn on the surface could end you Inside. Stadnik’s somewhat more cerebral Outside has a different range of experience but ends up having prejudice bubble up within him from a well he didn’t know existed and the brothers’ conversations change one another in ways they get glimpses of in flashes – like something seen at speed on a highway, through trees and underbrush. You-Shin Chen’s intentionally spare and austere set with Cameron Filepas’ Lighting and Projections convey the mood, heightening the emotion of the piece. Deborah Caney’s costumes depict the passing of time and fashion for Outside that contrasts with the sameness of Inside showing us the skill of the actors as well as they age decades in the course of the show. And what the brothers feel over the course of their conversations, more than what they see, brings them closer and closer as they mine their childhood to refine their future. Relationships can grow as the heart grows and Dean and Kreith and Monaco and Stadnik take us on that journey. That growth can be ours as well.
Luna Stage asks the biggest questions in the most intimate spaces. RIFT is running only until March 3, 2024. Get your tickets now at https://www.lunastage.org/rift.