Susan Granger’s review of “Brooklyn Laundry” (Manhattan Theatre Club at NY City Center Stage 1 – Off-Broadway)
Playwright/dirctor John Patrick Shanley is renowned for his romantic dramedy partiality to unlikely couples, as evidenced by “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Outside Mullingar” and the Oscar-winning movie “Moonstruck.”
Now there’s “Brooklyn Laundry” in its world premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club at New York’s City Center: Stage 1.
When middle-aged Fran Costello (Cecily Strong) drops off her bag of dirty clothes in a wheeled cart at a Bushwick full-service laundromat, she strikes up a conversation with its genial manager/owner Owen (David Zayas).
As they banter and bicker about why Fran has to pay the minimum fee – even though her bag is underweight – and how she can get a refund for some dry-cleaning clothes that went missing months ago, there’s an undeniable flicker of attraction.
If Fran comes across as ‘gloomy,’ she has good reason. Her boyfriend left her and her older sister Trish (Florencia Lozano) is in the final stages of terminal cancer.
“I don’t think I’m gloomy,” she says. “I think what I am suffering from is reality.”
Owen is carrying his own emotional baggage since his fiancée ditched him two years ago when he was unable to have sex because of a back injury caused by an automobile accident.
Nevertheless, Fran agrees to a dinner date with Owen when she gets back from taking care of impoverished Trish in her double-wide trailer park home in rural Pennsylvania. Trish’s drug-addict ex-husband is in Florida, leaving her to raise their two young children alone.
By the time they meet at a vine-draped outdoor restaurant with twinkling fairy lights, Fran has fortified herself by ingesting some chocolate psychedelic mushrooms which she subsequently shares with Owen, enhancing their evening together.
But then there’s another family emergency involving Fran’s other older sister, pragmatic Susie (Andrea Syglowski), who counsels her not to reveal more to Owen, reasoning, “Who needs a sob story up front?…Get him on-board first.”
Running an all-too-short 75 minutes – because the audience is obviously eager to know more about these two lonely, vulnerable souls – “Brooklyn Laundry” is a promising introduction to a thought-provoking play that still seems to be in development.
Credit Santo Loquasto’s detailed revolving scenic design, Suzy Benzinger’s costumes, Brian MacDevitt’s lighting and John Gromada’s original music/sound.
“Brooklyn Laundry” plays through April 14 at New York’s City Center: Stage 1. For information and tickets, go to www.manhattantheatreclub.com.