A couple of months ago we attended the 2015 3 Girls Theatre New Works Festival and loved that a piece from that festival would be chosen to be fully produced in 2016. We thought it would interesting to see the play that was chosen from the 2014 festival, Moments of Truth, now been fully produced and premiering at the Royce Gallery in the Mission. Off we went to a little known live-work gallery and theater for some drama talk & drinks.
Brittany: I appreciate that the play really felt like it was coming from a Woman’s perspective. I thought that the female characters shared some truth about how women think, which is part of 3 Girls Theater’s mission. They want to put women’s work on stage, and they want female perspectives on stage. I love the concept behind it.
Katie: Yes, it was so refreshing to see a show written by a women with two female leads, and those leads were both really good. However, I didn’t feel like the story, which is very naturalistic, needed to be a musical. It was a better story for a straight play, and I didn’t think the music was as strong as the play. While the writing was good, the lyrics felt forced.
B: The small space was also really hard for a musical. It was a little too much for the space. Not that it was bad singing, it was just really loud and really close to me. The most genuine moments happened when they weren’t singing. When they sang, everything got so big. The guy who played all the ensemble characters hardly sang, but he was delightful, in some ways he was my favorite part of the show.
K: Yeah there is something special about being in an intimate space. But there’s a good reason it’s rare to see musicals done in essentially a black box.
The Verdict: The actors, the set and the story were good, but this fell short as a musical. The space was too small for the actors’ big voices, and even if we didn’t feel blasted by some of the belting, we just didn’t like the songs that well. Still, it’s a cool company, with an awesome mission, so go if you want to support local theater and see a musical in a really small-historic-random art space.
The Drama Talk: Moments of Truth, does have in it some truth. The story touches on some very real feelings of doubt, self esteem issues, and ennui that felt very authentic. Unfortunately, the lyricist chose questionably clever rhymes, to go with a traditional musical theater score, which held back what could have been a great story. We both thought this would be a much better play than a musical.
The Drinks: The Royce Gallery is situated near a lot of great bars. We chose to go to Homestead for it’s relaxed atmosphere and straightforward, truthful drinks.
(Note: We were provided a large glass of red wine and a mission mini cupcake in the lobby, FOR FREE. We liked that touch)
Moments of Truth runs through October 18th at Royce Gallery. Tickets can be purchased directly through their website. Tickets are between $30-$50. There are currently tickets on Goldstar from comp-$15.
