Every Secret Thing

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Modern Muse Theatre Company generated a hit on their hands with the world premiere of Every Secret Thing by Judy GeBauer at The Bug Theatre. No question. This production begs to be absorbed by every human being from 7th grade on up. Astute 5th and 6th graders with civic-minded parents could indeed wrap their minds around Every Secret Thing speaking directly to a slice of history that dares not, for one second, be ignored.

Josh Hartwell as Andy Lawton, Jim Hunt as Drew Baxter, and Gregory J. Adams as Richard Packard in a scene from Modern Muse Theatre Company’s Every Secret Thing.

GeBauer did what playwrights do best: take their experience and bring it alive on stage. Under Stephen J. Lavezza’s meticulous direction, Every Secret Thing is frightfully alive with a magnificent cast of artisans.

In a teacher’s lounge of a junior high school in Someplace, USA, circa 1954, Richard Packard, (Gregory J. Andrews), a civics teacher, sits at a table with Barbara Penning (Gabriella Cavallero), a music teacher. Appearing to be nonchalantly relaxed, an air of stringent uncertainty circulates through the air. Hesitantly, Richard asks Barbara if she signed the Loyalty Oath.

Senator Joseph McCarthy breeds suspicion over the airwaves with his unleashed power accusing thousands for being Communistic. Thousands are hauled before the HUAC and the FBI for the slightest indication they could well hold membership in the Communist Party. Thousands of lives are ruined based solely on a suspicious word, an innocent garden party, and an off-hand comment. Thousands are given the opportunity to report suspicious comments by friends, family, coworkers, or even acquaintances. It doesn’t matter they don’t know anyone who is a card carrying member, or even flirting with the possibility. Harassment under the guise of slickly oiled interrogations created either concocted confessions or ruined lives. Companies asked their employees to sign a Loyalty Oath. If they refused, it was suspect enough to question one’s loyalty.

A quiet teacher suddenly disappears from a classroom without explanation. Fear blankets the country. Such is the fear roaming the hallways of this school.

Adams does an exceptional job of wrapping himself in the nerve-wracked Richard who wants answers, wants directions, and wants assurance. Cavallero ensures Barbara wears cool aloofness hiding her own anxiety appearing to be open, direct, and unaffected until confronted by an intelligent enthusiastic 8th grader, Maxine Hoyt (Jessica Posner). Eager to learn, eager to excel, eager to succeed, Maxine gets carried away with 8th grade innocent naivetŽ. Posner captures the inquisitive innocence of an 8th grader who gets carried away with dramatic enthusiasm. Posner is enchantingly delicious.

Josh Hartwell takes on the role of Andy Lawton who teaches English Literature covered in high-strung nervousness topped with confusion. He maintains Andy’s nerve-wracked disposition with every move of his body and muscle. Even his eyebrows quiver with uneasiness. Here is a man encased in fear. Hesitating to sign the Loyalty Oath, he surrounds himself with a blanket of “what if?”

Principal Drew Baxter comes to life through the inherent artistic ability of Jim Hunt. Drew could be the scariest one of all. You know he knows more then he lets on. Playing the I-don’t-know-anything-about-it-game, his mannerisms, his authoritarian attitude, and his expectations tells the audience he does know. Hunt is spectacular in his smooth bridled scariness while attempting to remain professionally authoritarian.

Then there is smooth talking polished Agent Kimble of the FBI played by Jono Waldman. Waldman provides Kimble with oil-streaked deception, buttering up those he interviews to put them at ease, to move them in the direction he wants, wielding his power with the FBI investigative authority always standing at his back.

When Richard is called before Kimble, with sneaky resolution he just wants Richard to report to him every week on anything suspicious, even though Richard doesn’t have anything suspicious to report. How does Kimble know so much about Richard? Why is teaching civics so questionable? How did he know Richard attended a Garden Party, or that his wife recently had a miscarriage? If he doesn’t comply, how easy it is for the slick Kimble to turn everything into questionable suspicion.

With all of the talk about Communism equating to Russia, a bright-eyed 8th grader has difficulty separating the two. To ask Barbara why the lives of composers are taught, especially Russians, is a perfectly well thought out 8th grade question. Appreciating the music is one thing, but why is it necessary to know anything about the people who wrote the music? Especially if they happen to be Russian. Never mind the composers lived before the revolution. They’re Russian, and in the mind of an 8th grader Russian equaled Communism. Interviewing a teacher for the school paper comes as an exciting opportunity for an idealistic young girl who hasn’t yet learned problems spring to life when combining her thoughts with the thoughts of the person being interviewed.

Confusion breeds confusion breeds suspicion, as these characters find themselves digging deeper and deeper into cramped holes.

With the three teachers spotlighted in their classrooms in synchronization, the dialogue written with natural precision, the actors turning themselves over to the ownership of the characters, this brilliantly written and executed play finds incredible timing right here right now raising the uneasy question: could it happen again? Is it happening right now? Do we ever learn through historical mistakes?

Talk about psychological thrillers, but a psychological thriller in the sense of not learning from serious historical mistakes. Do we ever learn? And if not why not? We are intelligent members of the human race. We care about what happens to our country, our world, our family, our neighbors, our friends. Here we are caught up in a National Home Security with phone lines being tapped, finding the gulf between races all too often wider then the bridges that were once-upon-a-time so carefully built. Suspicion erodes quicker than water or wind possibly can.

What is scary about the reality of this play is that GeBauer drew it from her own experience. Her own Civics teacher was called in before the HUAC. He disappeared from the school, and no one ever found out what happened to him. When GeBauer was 8-years-old, she and her young friends were enlisted by a police office to engage in what appeared to be innocent activities, but were actually unconstitutional. It’s easy to get the innocent involved in a spying game when it appears to be nothing more than a harmless fun-filled adventure.

Although the program doesn’t designate who designed the set, the result is a suburb job of incorporating the Bug Theatre’s stage into a wide view of a junior high school featuring three classrooms, the Principal’s office, a teacher’s lounge, an FBI office, and a smattering of other places highlighted by Rob Byers outstanding lighting design.

The last thing Richard writes on the blackboard before he leaves his position, tells it all: If you don’t stand up for something, you’ll fall for anything.

Herein lies a play at the Bug Theatre produced by Modern Muse that needs to be on the must see list for its grand excruciating exquisite acting, haunting set, and beautifully written all too realistic unnerving play.