By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
The game is afoot at Betty Ehart Senior Center. Los Alamos Little Theater set up the pieces like dominoes; they zig and zag through multiple floors and rooms in the senior center, and only when the game is completed, and all the dominoes have fallen, can the whole picture really be seen.
Here’s the premise: A scientist has created an encryption and a decryption system that are hotly desired by the U.S. and Russia. A CIA-like organization has launched an operation to get it. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there is much more going on than just acquiring technology; family relationships and secrets are also at play. In this game, who will walk away the winner?
“Bird in the Hand” is unlike anything I ever experienced from Los Alamos Little Theater. Conventional theater, where the audience passively sits and observes the story unfold on the stage, is pushed aside in favor of a more immersive experience. One story is being told, but depending on which room the audience selects, they are only getting a slice of it. When the play is completed, the audience gathers to discuss what they have seen and put the pieces together.
Sitting in a corner of an empty, dark senior center certainly adds to the tension unfolding in front of you. Plus, I am glad I chose to stay on the top floor because from my perch I could look down into the center’s cafeteria to see what was transpiring there while also hearing what was occurring in the bottom floor lobby area. That boundary line between the performers was gone, and I was literally in the middle of the action.
The actors should get a lot of praise. Most of them are running all over Betty Ehart Senior Center. Plus, they look cool in their black suits and ties with earpieces.
Eliza McCall as Janie Turner is great; a genius cryptography and one of the daughters of the man who created the infamous encryption and decryption system, she showcases a lot of sly smiles and coy remarks, but as the secrets are unearthed, she also displays vulnerability, too.
I also enjoyed Day Forgaard as Agent Riley, who, as the dominoes begin to fall, starts to realize what is really going on.
But the real showstopper is Terry Beery as Senior Agent Phillips. If this was a game of chess, Beery is the queen. She offers some great one-liners and expertly portrays a government agent with a tough and cynical exterior who also has a tragic history and some deep emotional pain.
This is truly a unique theatre experience, so everyone take part in the game. I mean it; put out your hand and give that first domino a push – just see what happens next.
“Bird in the Hand” continues at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. today and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Performances will again be at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Feb. 6, 7, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 8, at the Betty Ehart Senior Center, 1101 Bathtub Row.
Tickets at $10 are available at lalt.org and https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/a-bird-in-the-hand. LALT offers a half-price discount to those who want to watch a second time.