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JOB
Rating: PG-13 for mature themes
Run time: 75 minutes (NO intermission)
Accessible seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
ASL Performance: Not Available
Sensory-friendly Performance: Not Available
Sound level: Comfortable Volume
Audio/Visuals to prepare for: Some strobe/flashing lights, some sudden sounds
Reviewed by Bradford Reilly
The audience enters Teatro Dallas’ black box theatre at the Latin Cultural Center in Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX to a therapist’s office with books neatly organized near a dreamcatcher (scenic design thoughtfully crafted by Mac Welch). The atmosphere is pungent with the juxtaposition of #MeToo news stories intermixed with a Zen sound bath one might experience in a yoga class—we are invited to remember to breathe, but also must remember the context by which our play is set. In a societal shift, voices of women beg to be listened to, and should be listened to… but also in a culture where accusations fly, and public opinion is the tyrant of the moment, whether or not the details we perceive are true or false. It would hardly be a surprise (and isn’t a spoiler!), then, when Max Wolf Friedrich’s Job begins with a young woman pointing a gun at her therapist. And so it does—instantaneously putting the audience on edge and hardly primed for what is to unfold.
Holding the gun is a young woman named Jane, played by Devan Khalsa, who had recently had an internet viral mental break at her office in Silicon Valley. Jane was put on leave, but is itching to get back to her work, but needs a therapist’s sign off to say that she is ready to end her leave. Jane is a content moderator at big tech firm [redacted], who scrapes the internet and deletes the darkest content humanity has to offer. That work gives her great purpose, but also places a crushing load on her psyche. She fully believes that it is that work that she helps people. When asked “How do you help people?” Jane replies with an all-too-resonant, “Sacrifice.” Khalsa plays Jane
At the barrel end of the gun sits the therapist, Lloyd, played by Javier Carmona. Carmona’s Lloyd is surprisingly adept at de-escalation, and does so through lots of deep breaths. When Lloyd settles, he is able to carry on the session, and he does so methodically, with empathy, and careful listening—and how could he not?! Jane and Lloyd set boundaries, Jane puts her gun in her bag, Jane hangs up her bag, and she sits on the couch. But, as soon as Jane pulls the gun, it’s a hostage situation, no longer a therapy session, and Lloyd can only do so by doing his job: Helping people and lending an ear and reflective space, even for someone who may not be open to the experience.
Emily Lopez’s direction is a triumph. Though much of the play’s action in the 75 minute piece is our two characters sitting and talking, it is anything but boring. We, the audience, listen as carefully as a therapist, aiming to deduce the mystery between the two characters: why did Jane pull a gun? And why does she want to get to back to her job so badly? To what extent can Jane be trusted? The production has some surprises in its design as well, that have to be experienced to appreciate fully—thank you Dean Coburn and Claudia Martinez for some stunning sound and lighting that helped launch the play’s suspense. Both these characters are crafted with absolute credibility and depth, and it is seen in the tone Lopez establishes—with an even-keeled surface that could explode at any minute.
Job marks Teatro Dallas’ 2nd production in its 40th season, and is not one to be missed. Go in with an open heart, and be prepared to reflect.
Namaste
Bradford Reilly
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