Gruesome Playground Injuries Lovingly Tended

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Elisabeth Ross

Nate Sullivan and Becca Anderson

Iowa City - Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuires is a very dark two-hander that, despite its morbid subject matter, holds a lot of laughter and life. It tells the story of Kayleen (Becca Anderson) and Doug (Nate Sullivan), two messed-up kids who can't stop hurting themselves. Doug is reckless, a daredevil, always upping the stakes, trying any stupid stunt to get close to Kayleen. Kayleen, cautious, afraid of intimacy, pushes Doug away, calling him "retarded" and "freak," though she can't deny the strange hold he has on her. They meet at the age of eight, in the nurse's office at St. Margret Mary's Elementary School. Kayleen has a stomachache. Doug just rode his bike off the roof. They're immediately drawn to one another, and as the narrative jumps forward and backward over the next thirty years and they show off their various physical and emotional scars, a love story unfolds that is unusual, grisly, and strangely intimate.

The production is largely successful, due to Joseph's evocative writing, director Chuck Dufano's minimalist staging, and the extremely committed acting of Anderson and Sullivan. Joseph brings considerable craft to bear in telling the story of these two damaged misfits, knowing when to go for the laughs, when to go for the heartstrings, and when to reveal just a little bit more to raise the stakes. Dufano gets the nuances of the tone and guides the actors through it elegantly. Anderson and Sullivan are great at building character, and are deeply committed scene partners.

Gruesome Playground Injuries Opens November 15

Iowa City - "Dreamwell Theatre Presents Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Chuck Dufano. The play will run November 15, 16, 22, and 23 at 7:30 pm at 10 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City.

An accident prone daredevil and a corrosive masochist navigate friendship, love and the squishy parts that lie in between. In a series of non-linear vignettes that bounce over three decades of a relationship, Doug and Kayleen meet in a school nurse’s office, and from there build a complex connection over a lifetime of injuries, both physical and emotional. Truly a different type of love story, Gruesome Playground Injuries will leave you smarting from its sharp humor and sharper insights.

The cast includes Becca Anderson as Kayleen and Nate Sullivan as Doug."

Source: Dreamwell Press Release

Auditions for Gruesome Playground Injuries

Iowa City - Dreamwell Theatre announces a change to its 2013-14 season. Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris will be replaced with Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph. Gruesome Playground Injuries will run November 15-23, 2013. "We were not able to find a director for the play so we decided to move forward with a different show," said President of the Board, Matt Falduto.

Gruesome Playground Injuries, which has been described as "mystical, arresting, and quirkily amusing," is a different kind of love story told with sharp humor and even sharper insights into the human condition. Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together. "We love this play," said Dreamwell board member Matt Brewbaker. "When it became clear Clybourne Park wasn't going to happen, Playground was the first play we thought of."

Dreamwell hopes to do a reading of Clybourne Park in 2014. "It's an important work and we hope to be able to present it in another way even if it's not part of our regular season," said Falduto.

Auditions for Gruesome Playground Injuries will be held Sat, Oct 12 from 2:00 - 4:00 in Room E (upstairs) and Tuesday, Oct 15 from 7:00 - 9:00 in Room C. The play calls for 1 adult male and 1 adult female who can play an age range of 8 - 38. A description of the play: 'Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joesph is a 2010 Pulitzer Prize fnalist. It's a two person show (1 man, 1 woman) playing a series of scenes that take the characters back and forth ranging from age 8 to 38. An accident prone daredevil and a corrosive masochist navigate friendship, love and the squishy parts that lie in between. In a series of non-linear vignettes that bounce over three decades of a relationship, Doug and Kayleen meet in a school nurse’s office, and from there build a complex connection over a lifetime of injuries, both physical and emotional. Truly a different type of love story, Gruesome Playground Injuries will leave you smarting from its sharp humor and sharper insights.'"

(Source: Dreamwell newsletter)