Sperm Donor Wanted (or, the Unnamed Baby Play)
Written by T.J. Young and Directed by Haley Rice
Chain Theatre at 312 W. 36th Street, NYC
April 11th to April 28th
Brianna Cala and Sophia Grasso Photo credit Mikhail Lipyanskiy
TJ Young’s Sperm Donor Wanted (or, the Unnamed Baby Play), tackles parenthood, pregnancy, love and grief - and while the play has intimate glimpses into the lives and relationships of its 4 characters, the story falters and stumbles with all it tries to achieve.
The play follows two couples; Lisa and Bex, and Aaron and Charles. In Lisa and Bex’s pursuit to have a baby, they meet Aaron and Charles on Craigslist - and thus begins an almost unforgivably messy, yet somehow predictable story. Despite the sheer amount of content crammed into the play, there’s a stark lack of action on stage, something it desperately needs.
A majority of the play is simply each character narrating the story to the audience - even in the middle of conversations with other characters onstage. This led to a clunky performance, and regardless of the actors’ best efforts to connect with each other, these asides seemed to cut off any opportunity for real connections.
The Chain’s intimate theater space did allow for some truly touching moments throughout the piece - particularly each character’s monologues - which were those sacred insights we were given into who these characters really were, not just the roles they played in the somewhat transactional relationship the play revolves around.
In the midst of all of this information, about the characters, their history, their family lives - the climax (no pun intended) of the play itself fell short. An immense betrayal, a huge shock that had potential to rock the very core of the audience, was undermined with the immediate continuation into the next scene.
If anything, shortening the runtime of 2 hours could have solved a lot of these problems. The play has some wonderful portions that grapple with what we have been conditioned to believe parenthood can (or should) look like - and how beautiful unconventionality can be. If the inner worlds of these characters were exposed in a more vulnerable, attainable way for the audience, perhaps the asides and continuous movement would be much more impactful.
The lighting and sound design was painfully underused - there were only a few moments of messages ding!ing and one moment of breathing that heightened a particularly tense scene. In terms of lights, 5 lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling (color coordinated with each actor’s shirt) did not do much besides distract from what the characters were saying.
Tonight, it felt as though we as the audience were not given a moment to simply sit in the power of the themes this play introduced. Instead, we were pushed back and forth between scenes where actors wore headbands, lab coats and chunky glasses to change character for a few minutes at a time - and left a lot to be desired in regards to the 4 core characters of the story.
There’s great potential to truly dive deep into the stunning themes and topics introduced - many of which are rarely, if ever, portrayed on stage. This review is not by any means a dismissal of the stories the play is trying to highlight; but unfortunately, the show feels as though it’s drowning in the clear ambition to tell so many of them at the same time.
Presented by Theatre 4the People
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Niranjani Reddi.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 12th, 2024. All rights reserved.