Word: witherspoon
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...Miss Witherspoon” is not one of Durang’s best plays. Its whisper-thin plot barely covers what is essentially an exposition of the playwright’s personal theology. Miss Witherspoon (Paula Plum) commits suicide, and on her way through the “bardo” (a holding room for unfulfilled spirits that contains a curious mix of Eastern, Christian, and New Age religious ideas), learns to appreciate life on earth, finally making peace with the universe...
...scene opens on the title character weeping into a phone and bemoaning her failed life, which seems to comprise a string of bad break-ups and an even worse attitude. Unfortunately for our heroine, whoever is on the other line just won’t commiserate, and Witherspoon breaks off the conversation with that tried-and-true excuse, “I guess I’m just not in the mood to talk right...
...problem is, she seems to be very much in the mood to talk. Chunks of Skylab begin to fall from the sky, and fed up with it all, Witherspoon kills herself by standing right in their path. When the lights come up again, we find her perched on an armrest, explaining why Skylab is crashing to earth in a way that seems more like a fourth-grade teacher than one of Durang’s trademark paranoid neurotics...
...play continues, Witherspoon’s suicides get more and more outlandish. In her first reincarnation, a two-week-old Witherspoon gets the pet dog to do her dirty work. She makes it to 12 years old the second time, but overdoses on pills purchased from the playground drug-dealer—and so on. But every time things start to get fun, Witherspoon winds up back in the bardo where she, along with the audience, is subjected to yet another (after-) life-lesson from her painfully chipper spiritual guide, Maryamma (Mala Bhattacharya...
...point, Miss Witherspoon describes herself as “a woman with poor follow-through and little bravery,” which is a pretty apt way to describe the production as a whole. On the bright side, I did pick up a few pointers on how to cleanse my aura...