Wise Guise: ‘Deviant Craft’ Stirs Thought

“Deviant Craft” continues to be a work in progress, despite premiering off-Broadway in 1995 when it grabbed mostly positive reviews from excited critics. Author W. David Hancock says this complex drama is evolving as he prepares for a bigger venue, possibly on Broadway.

The most recent progress has brought it to Cal State Fullerton, of all places, where Hancock has been fine-tuning “Deviant Craft” with a student cast. The playwright has also been collaborating with Terry Walcutt, a CSUF graduate student in directing who’s also a good friend, and the result is an ambitious production that opened Friday in the campus’ Arena Theatre.

Where to begin? “Deviant Craft” is clearly one of the most tricky stage experiments that this college, or any other in Orange County, has taken on in recent years. It’s an intellectually adventurous work that moves from revelation to confounding obtuseness in a flash, leaving you to retrace the steps to try to determine if you’re still on the right path.

Of course, falling off that path and then getting back on is part of the experience. Hancock has loaded (overloaded, really) “Deviant Craft” with a spate of vague references to contemporary life (especially our dependence on science and psychology) while aligning it all with Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

The play ricochets from here to there, and Walcutt’s staging--which incorporates everything from mysterious lighting that emerges in the four corners of the small theater to videotapes that play unexpectedly--also tries to balance the coherent with the barely coherent. The acting is steady enough, but it’s clear that a more experienced cast might have brought more nuance and clarity to the play.

When first entering the theater, the audience is immediately made to be part of Elsa Amaya’s austere set. The cast mills about, interacting with us as we wander the stage and eventually find our seats. This orients “Deviant Craft’s” premise; that we’ve ventured to a penal colony for women to watch them put on a show. This is hardly Andy Hardy, though, as the “intellectually precocious” (and often mad and violent) inmates of the Phlogiston Foundation reveal themselves while stumbling to mount “The Tempest.”

It’s a bizarre introduction to Shakespeare and these women. Dr. Snow (Chet Cole), the foundation’s demanding drama therapist, controls everything, reminding the audience that investing in Phlogiston financially is a good investment in mental health. He spouts rehabilitation but forces brutal encounters and uses sadistic devices such as the “think tank,” a box where the prisoners are locked up when they cause trouble.

Dr. Snow dominates, but it’s the women who are eerily fascinating. One focus is Dotty (Holly Jeanne), who walks around in an agitated state and recalls accidentally killing 30 inmates several years ago when a fire she started spread through the foundation. She plays Shakespeare’s Miranda and, as do the other women, conjures her own demons and spirits reflecting those that populate “The Tempest.”

Some of the other prisoners are Harris (Krista Lynn Smith), a mute MIT graduate deciphering the riddle of complex molecules while playing Caliban. There’s also Ginny (Amanda Nelson), who pretends she’s been impregnated by Dr. Snow, the cruel Cookie (Monica Mannarelli) and Frankie (Janine Renae Christl), who has created a “virtual reality” contraption that apparently only works for her and Dotty.

Oh, yes, it does get confusing. Still, you have to respect Hancock’s boldness. His play considers, among other things, the power of creativity and the dangers of science in surprisingly original ways. “Deviant Craft” is an opening gambit that doesn’t yet have a satisfying conclusion, but it does open your head to the pleasure of interpretation.

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“Deviant Craft,” Cal State Fullerton’s Arena Theatre, 800 N. State College Blvd. Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m. Ends Sunday. $6 and $8. (714) 278-3371. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Janine Renae Christl: Frankie

Melissa Claverie: Betty

Chet Cole: Dr. Snow

Tracie Franklin: Maggie

Holly Jeanne: Dotty

Monica Mannarelli: Cookie

Amanda Nelson: Ginny

Krista Lynn Smith: Harris

A Cal State Fullerton production of W. David Hancock’s drama. Directed by Terry Walcutt. Set: Elsa Amaya. Lighting: Heather Ransons. Costumes: Megan Foster. Makeup: Kate Teahen. Sound: Scott Collins. Voice and speech coach: Joan Melton.