When answering a personal ad promising ‘a night that will change the course of mankind’, expect a few disappointments. When Jo and Jules hook up in B Street Theatre’s current production of ‘Boom’, written by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, their disappointment in each other is the highlight of their evening. Jo, played with an angry intensity by Sarah Aili, wants the human connection she’s never had…or, rather, she wants to have had a human connection; best get it over with! Jules, played by Peter Story, has a bit loftier goal. He wants to be the savior of all mankind and the father of all future generations! One small problem though; he can’t really…um…perform. “ But”, he’s quick to point out, “it’s nothing that a bottle of wine and a Jake Gyllenhaal mask couldn’t solve”. If all else fails, he’s got the savior’s best friend-the turkey baster!

Story and Aili play off each other like seasoned pros, and director Michael Stevenson guides them through their courtship with finesse, giving each a chance to shine. There’s comic nuance in both performances, and Aili, especially, can blow the roof off with her laser-focused anger. You don’t want to meet her in a dark alley!

There are five other characters in this little romantic comedy. Four fish, which have helped Jules discover that the Earth will be destroyed by a fiery comet sometime in the future, and a God-like being “with no power” named Barbara, who controls the action from billions of years in the future. Barbara is played by Jamie Jones, a B Street veteran, and it may have been tempting to just call this ‘The Jamie Jones Show’. She twinkles and shines as the far flung descendent who can’t finish a sentence. But, as I’ve said, these folks are pros, and the story of how Barbara came to be, from this night of disappointment is a trio, not a solo, and they play their instruments masterfully. (One beef though, and it’s a small one: they talk about four fish being in the tank on stage but from where I was sitting I only saw one-a big Styrofoam thing tethered to the bottom. It’s a real tank with real water, and I don’t know how many fish in the area are members of Actor’s Equity, but couldn’t they put real fish in the tank? If one of them missed their cue, it wouldn’t be any worse than the one that just sat there. I’m just sayin’…)

‘Boom’ was written by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and it follows similar themes favored by the author in other works such as ‘Hunter Gatherers'-society’s collapse, and the rebuilding of the human race. After centuries of playwrights obsessed with where we’ve come from, it’s refreshing to hear one questioning where we’re going. It’s not an uncommon theme in literature; Kurt Vonnegut Jr. explored it in his novel ‘Galapagos’. In it, as in ‘Boom’, our legacy lives on, and in ‘Boom’, as in ‘Galapagos’, it’s probably not the legacy we’d prefer. “But it’s all ours”, as Barbara would say. “Let’s all just --- !“

Nachtrieb’s humor is bawdy and irreverent, and more than a little wicked. His character development is thoughtful, and his storytelling is razor sharp. He could very well be this generation’s Joe Orton, pending the company he keeps…

Look for Capital Stage’s mounting of Nachtrieb’s ‘Hunter Gatherers’ in May.

B Street Theatre is located at: 2711 B Street in Sacramento.

“Boom” By Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
January 10, 2009 - February 21, 2010Previews: $12
Tickets: $22–$30
To purchase tickets, call the box office at (916) 443-5300.
Showtimes:
Previews:
Jan 9 @ 5pm
Jan 10 @ 2pm

Showtimes:
Tue @ 6:30pm
Wed @ 2pm & 6:30pm
Thu & Fri @ 8pm
Sat @ 5pm & 9pm*
Sun @ 2pm
*Call to confirm dates for these showtimes