SUSIE LUCK: HOSTESS OF MENTAL FLORIDA
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Since then I’ve noted with secret satisfaction the increasing number of productions–by performers as varied as Spaulding Gray, Lynn Book, Donna Blue Lachman, and the Neo- Futurists–that successfully combine theater and performance art to create hybrid works that are both more daring than mainstream theater and still quite entertaining.
Of course, not every hybrid turns out to be as hardy as Gray’s The Terrors of Pleasure or the Neo-Futurists’ Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Take, for instance, Dan Ursini’s Susie Luck: Hostess of Mental Florida. Please.
Jane Baxter Miller tries a little too hard to ingratiate herself with the audience. Dressed in a grass skirt, blue top, orange hat, and gold slippers, she hands out silly party hats to help us get into the spirit of the show. Her Susie is such an eternally cheerful and charming person that it’s hard to take seriously the sadder side of her character. There’s a hint that she may be lonely living away from her family, but it’s lost in the chaos.
