Based on Miriam Suzanne’s novel, Riding Side-Saddle‐written on 250 notecards (which are posted in Buntport’s lobby) designed to be read in any order‐the story revolves around a group of friends that share a common bathroom (along with the band, Teacup Gorilla, including Suzanne on bass, who reside in the bathtub). For their 40th home-grown world premiere production in the company’s 16 years, the Buntporters and a few guest artists have bravely gone where few have dared tread, the communal bathroom, to teach us about the proper application of beauty products, the Greeks, and the meaning of life.
To the novel, the ensemble has added their own dialogue and character development. Sam (Diana Dresser) and Herman (Erik Edborg) are in a relationship in which they literally conjoin. The “Narrator” (Brian Colonna) provides the background to the asynchronous storyline, which, in short order, begins to reveal the sophisticated layering that the ensemble has created in their script, improvisational updates, and hilarious details.
As always, character development is the hook to Buntport’s legendary zaniness: Hannah Duggan’s (Jenny) subtle waking dream-state imagery; Michael Morgan’s (Edward) laugh-out-loud funny OCD riffs; Erin Rollman’s (Jolene) gender-bending enigma; Colonna’s sublime psychological observations; and, finally, Dresser and Edborg’s phenomenal symbiotic dynamics and unique love story, based on the myth of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus.
Consider the usual time span involved in writing a play, reading it, making adjustments, repeating the process X times, and then producing it. Now think about what you would learn and hone if you accelerated the process and did this two to three times a year for 16 years with your adult productions, and even more often with your children’s productions. The answer is before us: Nuances that normally take years‐foreshadowing, time-bending, catharsis‐can be achieved in months, and voilà , an hour and forty minutes of non-stop action later, we are ready to talk for hours about our experience
-Bob Bows, March, 8, 2016 ColoradoDrama.com