Body Awareness Delivers Laughs with Heart

I saw an absolutely brilliant play last night at the Aurora Theater, Body Awareness, by Annie Baker. It had many tender moments and certainly a lot of heart, but above all, it made me laugh out loud. One line had me still guffawing as they switched the set around between scenes.

The setting is Shirley State College in Vermont where it's Body Awareness Week. It opens with Phyllis, the enthusiastic professor in charge of the week's activities, giving her spiel to what one assumes is a half-filled auditorium of faculty and students who feel obliged to be there for the scheduled events that are only minimally connected to the topic at hand. With each day, Phyllis tries more earnestly to get students and faculty excited about a subject she has great passion for, even as she feels she is losing her battles at home on that very topic.

Actress Amy Resnick plays Phyllis with great humor while still staying true to her character's core values. We've all been on the receiving end of that desperation that leaks through presenters' hopeful introductions, recognizing even before the event coordinator does that this week that had such great potential is not going as planned.

Mirrored at home is Phyl's partner of three years, Joyce (played by Jeri Lynn Cohen), who is trying gracefully to  convince her socially challenged grown son that he has Asperger's syndrome. The son Jared is played with dead-on accuracy by Patrick Russell, who has excellent comic timing. Jared is in denial of his condition and has some anger issues. A self-proclaimed autodidact who views most of those around him as imbeciles, Jared is the source of great frustration to Joyce and Phyllis.

Enter the delightful Howard Swain, who represents everything slimy in the art world—in the most charming way—as photographer Frank, who is a guest artist at the college for Body Awareness Week and staying at Phyllis's and Joyce's home. Although Phyl comes to see him as the very embodiment of "the male gaze" that she's spent her life battling, Frank makes himself a part of the family, instating a Jewish ritual at dinner and dispensing advice on women to a sexually frustrated Jared. In a particularly funny but poignant scene, Jared finally confesses that he's worried that he's a "retard." To which, Frank astutely replies, "You're not retarded—you're living with two women!"

Poking fun at the painfully narrow line walked by the politically correct, Baker shows great affection for her characters and respect for their beliefs while still offering up their situation for laughs.

And isn't that the best way to approach life—with generosity and a sense of humor?

To buy tickets to this fabulous show, contact http://www.auroratheatre.org.