Milk Milk Lemonade (by Joshua Conkel, directed by Montana von Fliss), a wry, clever drama about destiny, our longing to escape it, and the consequences of embracing it, is now playing at the Seattle’s Washington Emsemble Theatre. Emory (Tim Smith-Steward), a gleefully effeminate farm boy, longs for a level of stardom he’s highly unlikely to achieve. He confides his dreams in Linda (Kate Sumpter), a pet chicken who dreams of escaping the farm’s poultry processing machine to become a stand-up comedienne.
Emory (Noah Benezra) is alternatively bedeviled and seduced by Elliot, the violent neighbor boy from the shanty house down the road. Elliot longs to don a tuxedo and be the king of the prom, but, despite his well-concealed gentle streak, he is far more likely to don a wife-beater t-shirt and live up to its name. The boys are watched over by Nanna (Troy Mink), whose sweet but misguided eagerness to see Emory made more masculine generates the undercurrent of darkness that drives this drama forward, and the entire play is presided over by The Lady in the Black Leotard (Jennifer Pratt), who, by turns, provides stage direction, interprets for Linda the Chicken, gives voice to the absorbed twin who compels Elliot to violence, and plays the Spider under Nanna’s porch.
If you’re thinking all this sounds like pretty bizarre material for a one-act, eighty-minute play to explore, you’re right — yet this fearless, uninhibited cast infuses every single moment with sly wit, honesty, and sheer joy. The actors here aren’t just playing roles; they’re possessed and transformed by their characters, giving this small, local production a level of polish and intensity you don’t often encounter on any stage for any price.
Pair this level of performance with Joshua Conkel’s clever script, and you get an evening at the theatre that you won’t soon forget. (You may also leave the theatre resolving to never eat chicken again.) This show was the highlight of this trip to Seattle. Highly recommended!
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