Following the Northern Star is the second in Michael Gorman's trilogy of plays about drug addiction in the New England fishing community. "A new Recovery model," the playwright has explained, "emphasizes the return of the recovering addict to the community and the sharing of his or her story, as opposed to the anonymity model of Alcoholics Anonymous for instance." (Emphasis mine.)
"Sharing of story" can mean two things, telling or showing. Telling, which may work brilliantly as therapy, isn't generally what's called for on the stage, where, not coincidentally, it's called a "show." The excellent opening scenes of this play indeed show much promise - but then, alas, the telling takes over.
The production takes full advantage of the large, versatile space of the La Mama Annex. The introductory scenes occur in a big pool of blue at some distance from the audience, and on a "bridge" far to the rear, but with the hall's fine acoustics we have no trouble understanding the exposition. Three childhood friends play fishing-boat, but one, Robbie, is haunted by the specter of his alcoholic father. Then a couple of inland high school kids, Guy and Maria, banter winningly about their futures. Engineered by Gorman's smart, hope-charged dialogue, these scenes brim with life.
Aided by haunting live music, the first act carries on into a present day in which the bookish Guy, shunning college, has followed his dream and begun to learn the trade of a commercial fisherman. The locals, including the charismatic but still troubled Robbie, live the stereotypically scrappy life of a hard-working, hard-drinking deep-sea fishing community. If Bruce Springsteen had grown up in a place like New Bedford he might have written characters like these. "Rich people," Robbie says, "they can afford to fail. We have to succeed."
But times are hard. While Robbie pursues his dreams of big catches, and recovers from the loss of more than one boat, his childhood friends Johnny and Therese both take jobs on land. Robbie, played with scabrous intensity by Michael Kimball, shares the spotlight with the set, most notably a wonderful, big rolling boat.
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