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Winners
by Joel Benjamin Maggie Bofill’s Winners at the Ensemble Studio Theatre at first appears to be yet another pleasantly eccentric domestic comedy with the usual struggling middle class family at the end of its emotional and financial rope, a family full of the usual exhaustingly odd and put-upon characters: a dad who’s lost his macho mojo after two years on the unemployment roster; a mom who’s become the breadwinning executive; a sloucher, pothead teenaged son; and a dark, self-involved, mature-for-her-11years daughter. Gradually, however, these people get to you and get under your skin because Ms. Bofill knows their every nuance and every thought. By the end of Winners you find yourself giving in to this family and its deep connections. In this case surrender has its rewards: a warm feeling at the oddball, but totally right ending.
Brian (Grant Shaud) has been out of work for two years and has turned into a bath-robed house-husband, trying out recipes chauffeuring his kids. He discovers that his 15-year-old son, Tommy (David Gelles) has lost his job at the Gap. When he confronts Tommy’s boss, Bill (Scott Sowers) he finds out that Tommy was dismissed for smoking pot. Brian is persuaded by his old friend, Bill to take his son’s job and soon actually begins to enjoy feeling useful again, causing friction with Tommy. Meanwhile his spiffily dressed wife, Mabel (Florencia Lozano) appears to be having an affair with her boss. Nevertheless she is a good mother, there for her difficult children. Tommy is troubled by something he has seen at the Gap and his sister, Gabby (Arielle Goldman), an artistic savant, is putting together a rather avant-garde Christmas play filled with blood and pretension-busting prose all of which is brought skillfully together during a climactic dinner party thrown for Bill and his influential wife Lilly (Polly Lee). The four bounce off each other in a series of confrontations that range from comical to raging. Their anthropomorphic pets Buck the dog (Curran Connor) and pussycat, Marie Antoinette (Stephanie Hsu) observe their masters with humor and a few errant bodily functions. What finally brings them all together is their united reaction against Bill the Gap guy and his influential wife who both hold way too much power over the family. The final image—surreal, silly and touching—is a coup de theatre filling the tiny EST stage to the brim. Pamela Berlin directed her fine cast with understanding and precision. The action might be sped up a bit as the play is a bit too long, but it never tests the audience’s patience. As usual EST has gathered a creative team that makes the most of the small space. Jason Simms’ set uses pieces that roll on and off through a multi-purpose wall highlighted by a video screen that helps set the different scenes. Sydney Maresca’s costumes catch each character’s idiosyncrasies. The lighting (Seth Reiser) and sound design (M. Florian Staab) also blended into Ms. Bofill and Ms. Berlin’s vision. Winners – January 14 – February 8, 2015 
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