"The Secretary" - by Kyle John Schmidt - City on a Hill Arts (Fitchburg, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Kelly Stowell as "Lorrie," Corine Farnsworth as "Janelle" and Ginny Hilli as "April" in a scene from Kyle John Schmidt's "THE SECRETARY" from City on a Hill Arts in Fitchburg, MA. through April 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“A gun is a law that you hold in your hand."
- ("Ruby") / Kyle John Schmidt
City on a Hill Arts
Presents Kyle John Schmidt's
"THE SECRETARY"
Written by Kyle John Schmidt
Directed by Jack Crory
Assistant Director Avery Columbus
Cast Includes: Lorien Corbelletti as "Ruby," Ginny Hilli as "April," Corine Farnsworth as "Janelle," Pam Sontag as "Shirley," Kelly Stowell as "Lorrie," Kathleen O'Connor as "Brandy"
Additional Creative Team:
Producers - Bethany Johnson and Debbie Moylan; Set Designer - David Allen Prescott; Sound and Lighting Designer - Samantha deManbey
Phillips Hall at First Parish Church, 923 Main Street, Fitchburg, MA
Performances:
April 5, 2024 through April 13, 2024
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
TICKETS:
https://thesecretary.brownpapertickets.com
Free admission with donations welcome
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
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With an outstanding cast of six actresses, the company of City on a Hill's latest production of Kyle John Schmidt's "THE SECRETARY" have staged a fascinating visual essay, not only taking a compelling look at guns but also a look at us as a society.
And when I refer to "us as a society," I don't just mean those who are either pro- or con-Second Amendment rights - although there is certainly enough behavior exhibited here to make a solid case that some folks just should never have access to assault level weaponry. EVER.
Whether or not that was the initial intent of "THE SECRETARY," which is doubtful since the Schmidt play has been around for close to a decade, there is also a case to be made for Schmidt's work wherein it could also easily serve as an allegorical tale on the emergence of A.I.
Consider:
The multitude of discussions taking place about A.I. slowly "taking over" - a so-called "rage of the machines" - machines doing things, acting upon things with little or no human input.
Acting upon input programming upon programming upon programming, rinse and repeat...and then, without any instruction to act, A.I. acts upon all that input "accordingly."
There is no guidance. No truth or lies - only what is perceived and executed by a machine based upon the above.
Who is to say that cannot apply to other "machines" - say, for instance, guns?
(Photo: Lorien Corbelletti as "Ruby," Kelly Stowell as "Lorrie" and Kathleen O'Connor as "Brandy" in a scene from Kyle John Schmidt's "THE SECRETARY" from City on a Hill Arts in Fitchburg, MA. through April 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
In "THE SECRETARY," guns are supposedly going off. By themselves.
A student gets killed. A copier gets shot. Accusations fly but the common response is "the gun just went off by itself."
Historically, this defense has been uttered before and usually with some high degree of incredulity.
In "THE SECRETARY," an ailing woman, long suffering and on her deathbed, is "taken out" of her misery.
Is she simply "taken out" by a grieving husband?
Or - is she "taken out" by a machine that can "sense" the anguish and despair of either one, both or the other...and acts upon this "input accordingly?"
If we, as a society, already fear guns held by less responsible gun-wielding humans - i.e. the "idiots" who can somehow legally possess them - what do we do when that same weaponry in the possession of said "idiots" begins acting upon its own based upon their input?
These ideas begin to flow over the course of the 90 minute play (no intermission).
(Photo: Lorien Corbelletti as "Ruby" and Pam Sontag as "Shirley" in a scene from Kyle John Schmidt's "THE SECRETARY" from City on a Hill Arts in Fitchburg, MA. through April 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
As indicated, the performances are all equally admirable and there is a fine cohesiveness to the staging by director Jack Crory.
In a blue-collar manufacturing town, Janelle (Corine Farnsworth) tries to get her half-sister, April (Ginny Hilli), a job at the gun factory where she works and which is owned and run by stern taskmaster, Ruby (Lorien Corbelletti).
Corbelletti dominates in every scene in which Ruby appears.
Her seemingly cantankerous exterior is a façade which is exposed later as we learn about a deeply painful event that continues to drive Ruby. A steadfast, layered performance.
Farnsworth is all-in as empathetic, well-meaning sister Janelle who tries to look out for her half-sister while Hilli, as April, counters with a far colder reciprocation.
Hilli is resilient as uncomfortable April, who balks at the prospect of working for Ruby because she is ferociously opposed to guns of any kind, let alone the assault level weapons made by Ruby's company.
The relationship between April and Ruby is strained from their first meeting, even with Janelle acting as mediator.
However, Ruby sees a little of her own lost daughter in April and tries to help April as much as she can.
(Photo: Kelly Stowell as "Lorrie," Corine Farnsworth as "Janelle" and Ginny Hilli as "April" in a scene from Kyle John Schmidt's "THE SECRETARY" from City on a Hill Arts in Fitchburg, MA. through April 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
Meanwhile, in the nearby school, a disturbed student whose mother, Brandy (Kathleen O'Connor) is cousins with another of Ruby's gun factory employees, Lorrie (Kelly Stowell), has come into the school armed and is "taken out" by school secretary Shirley (Pam Sontag).
The performances by Stowell and O'Connor are simply to die for as the twisted pair of morally ambiguous QAnon-level cousins.
To commemorate Shirley's bravery, Ruby announces the creation of a new rifle which she has called "THE SECRETARY," in Shirley's honor.
Sontag's convincing portrayal of Shirley as an extremely uncomfortable celebrity is quite impressive.
Shirley is someone who initially seems adverse to the taking of any life yet now finds herself in the spotlight for doing just that as Shirley is hailed as a hero.
However, the announcement of Ruby's new assault rifle "THE SECRETARY" has repercussions from Brandy and Lorrie which ripple throughout the remainder of the story, leading to a gripping conclusion.
(Photo: Lorien Corbelletti as "Ruby," Ginny Hilli as "April" and Corine Farnsworth as "Janelle" in a scene from Kyle John Schmidt's "THE SECRETARY" from City on a Hill Arts in Fitchburg, MA. through April 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
The single set design by David Allen Prescott perfectly suits the action on stage and provides a believable backdrop of a "typical" blue collar manufacturing office environment.
There is also some fine lighting choices made, especially toward the end of the show.
There are also several recorded commercials played throughout the show promoting several of Ruby's product lines.
These commercials are funny and add to some of the randomly placed "dark humor" associated with the tale.
However, this play is still not really either a drama with humorous underscoring nor a comedy with serious undertones, thus making it fall somewhere in between.
Whatever else it may be, "THE SECRETARY" continues in Fitchburg until April 13th, 2024 and is certainly the highest caliber of storytelling.
Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
Ruby runs a small-town gun company that aims to protect women by helping them
protect themselves.
With products like The Bridesmaid, The Babysitter and The Mallwalker, each of the company's guns is named after a woman who used a gun and saved a life--more often than not, her own.
When an elderly secretary at the local high school confronts a threat in her office with six bullets, Ruby responds by naming her latest gun after the reluctant hero: "THE SECRETARY."
But as production begins on "THE SECRETARY," guns start going off all around town--and no one’s pulling the trigger.
Kyle John Scmidt's "THE SECRETARY" is an offbeat comedy about safety, survival, and guns for a world that’s up in arms. .
ABOUT CITY ON A HILL ARTS
CITY ON A HILL (COH) produces works of art that explore the intersection of faith, spirituality, and culture, fostering in each of us a more just and loving response.
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