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Sarah and Megan are college friends who, post graduation from a small town Pennsylvania school, have come to Los Angeles to room together. Megan is a partier, supporting her nightly bar-hopping by holding down a nothing job at a chain clothing store. Sarah prefers to stay home in her pajamas and make a living playing internet poker. Megan brings home a bar pick-up named Charles one night, offering him a couch commitment, over Sarah’s protests. Charles quickly ingratiates himself to both women, creating a love triangle that waffles back and forth like a close hockey game
All three parties are pretty slick in their own ways. All three carry secrets they’d rather not divulge. They each wear two faces. Charles convinces Sarah that he can show her “the real Los Angeles” and Sarah begins to evolve. She throws out the keyboard from her computer, then douses it with Mountain Dew for good measure. One gets the feeling it’s not a permanent condition. Charles finally reveals he is from a well-to-do family. Megan ups her promiscuity by sleeping with an unseen guy named Rick, then later that night, taking Charles into the bedroom. There’s quite a web being woven here, happening under one roof. Maybe it’s a little too much to expect an audience to accept.	Annabelle Borke - Ben Huber - Amelia Alvarez
Let us not quibble about the plot of BETWEEN US CHICKENS. Author Sofia Alvarez, in her first professional production, has asked us to suspend our disbelief quite a bit here. Ben Huber does his best to make Charles appealing, but the script doesn’t map out a particularly Lothario personality for him. Amelia Alvarez as Megan, could be more physical with her body language. Megan is a nightclub predator and should be played as such. Annabelle Borke could go much farther to portray “computer nerd”, which would make her transition to the beautiful woman who Charles coaxes out of her, all the more marked. Such as it is, CHICKENS has a middle-of-the-road feel to it. The dialogue is attractive, the blocking is a bit stiff at times, and the set is okay. My problem with this Casey Stangl directed piece is there’s a lack of challenge to it. Perhaps the play is too intellectual, leaving the emotions out in the snow. Perhaps the characters aren’t sharply defined enough. The play progresses from beginning to middle to end without an emotional epiphany that it begs for, nor one character to really root for.
Don’t get me wrong: BETWEEN US CHICKENS is not a turkey. What it lacks in emotional oomph it makes up for with intellectual prowess. Author Alvarez and company present a logical, believable premise that carries the potential for great fun. The outcome comes as a bit of a surprise too. Do those two factors make for an enjoyable evening of theatre? Take a look see.	Bem Huber - Annabelle Borke
BETWEEN US CHICKENS plays now through June 19, 2011; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 2 PM at The Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Avenue, Atwater Village, CA 90039. Tickets are $15, $10 for students and seniors and can be obtained via calling 323-644-1929 or visiting www.AtwaterVillageTheatre.com Comments? Write to us at: Letters@ReviewPlays.Com Photo 1: Shane William Zwiener Photo 2: Tracy A. Leigh