Theater Reviews

Feb 14, 2008 - Eve Ensler's "Necessary Targets" sets a more socially involved path for Reno Little Theater

By Jack Neal

Well known for her popular hit, “Vagina Monologues,” playwright Eve Ensler attempts to strike even more emotional nerve centers with “Necessary Targets.” That she is only partially successful with a play that sound bites its way to a fairly profound conclusion doesn’t distract from powerful human moments in this current Reno Little Theater presentation.

Directed by Sue Klemp, who knows how to dig deep into a script and come up with fascinating theater, “Necessary Targets” (to be followed by “The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer”) seems to be setting Nevada’s oldest performing arts organization on a more socially involved theatrical path.

Based on Ensler’s 1995 taped conversations with Bosnian women whose lives had been seriously altered by war, the play is about two American women who travel to Bosnia to help mend the psychological scars of war. One is J.S., a middle-aged therapist from Manhattan who doesn’t have the foggiest notion about what life is like away from the glamour of the Big Apple. The other is Melissa, a young mercenary with a tape recorder more interested in writing a book than healing shattered lives.

Armed with Melissa’s tape recorder, Melissa and J.S. attempt to coax sensational stories out of five Bosnian women. It’s when their exploitive methods are exposed for being ludicrously crude that the play begins to move in the direction of having something to say.

Zlata, fiercely played by the splendid Evonne Kezios, condemns with a salvo of remarks she spits like daggers to the heart. “Recording refugee tears… sexy business, baby.” “You don’t understand this happened to us – to real people. We were just like you.” As Zlata puts it, “We are the necessary targets whose tragedies you will turn into stories.” Zlata knows and she’s bitter. Her account of decapitations, including her parents, is horrendous. A medical doctor, she lost her family, her home and her profession.

The other four Bosnian women are convincingly played by a strong cast obviously moved by the lives they are portraying plus Klemp’s earnest direction. Touchingly, Rachel Sliker’s Nuna yearns for all things American. Azra, the old farm woman who tries to bury herself, is compellingly played by Terri R. Bortot. Susanne Schweitzer plays Seada, a young Bosnian woman victimized by rape. It’s the most profound of the play’s monologues and is beautifully brought off by Schweitzer who wisely does not overplay her big moment. Bernadette Garcia is Jelena and she performs with the same high-level intensity of her other sisters in this sad song of war’s forgotten victims.

In her play about the ethics of documenting private pains, only one of Ensler’s American characters makes the empathetic leap to understanding. It’s J.S., the trauma counselor and New Yorker who loves her creature comforts, who ultimately bonds with the Bosnians. “I feel more comfortable with eating disorders,” J.S. says uneasily early on. Then, as J.S., Charity Fowler makes a leap of faith bringing poignancy to a role that verges on “Ugly American” cliché. Jennifer McNabney is Melissa, a street-smart, superficial journalist who misses the soul of what great reporting is about. McNabney's portrayal is rock solid.

Jack-of-all-trades (and master of all) Doug Mishler’s set and lighting designs (he’s also the play’s producer) are drab and very much in keeping with the “Necessary Targets'” theme of devastation. Adding up to what is a searing emotional presentation, Sue Klemp’s direction is sensitive, her attention to detail is complete.

If only Ensler’s play was more of a play and less a disconnected series of soliloquies the impact of “Necessary Targets” would hit home much more than it does. As it is, it’s still worth the time (85 minutes sans intermission) for an enlightening encounter with the serious side effects of war and its aftermath.

Reno Little Theater’s presentation of “Necessary Targets” can be seen at the Hug High School Theater, 2880 Sutro Street (at North McCarran Boulevard), Reno, Nevada, February 2, 8, 9, 15, 16 (2008) at 7:30 p.m. and February 3, 10 (the performance reviewed) and 17 at 2 p.m. For information call 775-329-0661 or go online at renolittle theater.org.