EUR Review: New Play ‘Elevator’ Depicts Who We Really Are Behind Closed Doors, Brilliantly!

*I’ve got issues, you’ve got ’em too. So give them all to me and I’ll give mine to you. 

Some pop music listeners may recognize the aforementioned as lyrics from the Julia Michaels song, ‘Issues,’ but it’s also what you eventually learn about the seven people trapped in the elevator of a high-rise building in the aptly titled hit play, ‘Elevator.’

What a ride!

Playwright Michael Leoni is clearly interested in doing more than just writing and directing a play. In his own words, as a writer and director he aims to create “exciting material that reaches beyond the scope of traditional entertainment, challenges an audience’s beliefs, and motivates a movement for positive change in our society.”

He wants to get people talking again. He aims to shift the whole trajectory of communication — from a you did this so I’m going to do that mindset to let’s examine WHY that was done, and where we go from here.

A lofty goal which, in my humble opinion, spells BADASS!

It’s no surprise the Coast Playhouse production of ‘Elevator’ has been extended three times. Judging from the full house you can hold the dessert — people are still trying to swallow the entree being served: Who we really are behind closed doors.

While racism continues to run rampant in our society, this production clearly reminds us that its not the only ism that needs to be addressed. You want to see people get real ugly? Trap them in a space for a long period of time, with no way out. Slowly fear sets in, the facades fade, and the claws come out.

Stuck in this particular lift is an anxiety-ridden CEO woman (Deborah Vancelette), a sullen and mysterious goth girl (Kristina St. Peter), a temp worker obsessed with her weight (Erica Katzin), a maintenance man carrying a heavier load than usual (William Stanford Davis), a musician with conflicting lyrics (Devon Werkheiser), a hot girl with issues that may surprise you (Karsen Rigby), and an antagonizing business man (David Abed). Their only connection to the outside world comes from Cyrus and his team (Tyler Tanner) — voices funneled through the speaker in the elevator, which alerts them to the progress being made to alleviate the problem of being stuck.

At first, the thought of sitting in a theatre for 90-minutes with no intermission, and the only scenery being people inside of an elevator, is frightening in itself. This writer had to deal with her own anxiety as she sat in the intimate theatre awaiting the start of the play pondering thoughts like, ‘what if I get bored?’ I mean, what could they possibly do for this length of time that wouldn’t eventually have me squirming in my seat; thinking about real stuff like, “Do I have to pee?” or “Oh god, I forgot to take my clothes to the cleaners” or “Oh man, when is this going to be over. I need to get back to work!”

Thank goodness the play was fully engaging, leaving those thoughts behind.

Leoni’s brilliant writing and direction not only made the time fly by, it keeps you engaged throughout. His choice to take us inside the minds of these people, hearing their actual thoughts versus the words that come from their mouth is powerful. The white woman CEO enters the elevator (from the audience); and is soon joined by the African American maintenance man; who watches as she clutches her purse tighter upon seeing him. A voice-over plays as we hear his thoughts: “She thinks I’m gonna steal her purse,” and we see her look nervously at him while clutching her purse tighter. Then slowly, others enter the elevator, each carrying their own personal baggage — which we get to experience by going inside their minds.

A curtain is lifted as we see ourselves in them.

The honesty in the thoughts and dialogue from these seven strangers is often jarring; but at time it is downright comical. One line, I forget who says it — but I believe it was the maintenance man who directs it to the antagonizing business man (that everyone wants to strangle at some point!) says, “If you meet more than three assholes in a day, the asshole is probably you!”

Each individual definitely has their share of great lines; but the temp and the CEO woman, played by Erica Katzin and Deborah Vancelette respectively, who both give fine performances by the way, have the absolute best lines and most engaging characters!

The director’s choice to use slow/fast motion in real time, to depict the passing of time, is visually spectacular.

EURweb senior editor DeBorah B. Pryor spoke with actor William Stanford Davis, who stars as the “maintenance man” in the play. Davis’ character seems to be the voice of reason in this crowded elevator, and he, too, served up a fine performance in his almost always cool, calm and collected character with a secret of his own.

If Davis’ face looks familiar, it is! With more than 70 television and film credits to his name, including roles in Tyler Perry’s If Loving You is Wrong on OWN, and August Wilson’s Fences; not to mention some directing gigs that include a play by Lawrence Fishburne called Riff Raff, Shame it must take one heck of a script to get him to do theatre.

When I asked what it was about the script that caught his eye, he said.

I always look for three things: What is the message?  I think every piece has a message good, bad or indifferent. Does the piece move me emotionally? And then above all…the writing. When I read ‘Elevator’ the first time it seemed to reach those criteria and that’s what convinced me to do it.

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