Fortune's Favored

After their first production, Vagabond Theatre Group turned their focus to producing new plays. "Fortune's Favored," by Lesley Anne Moreau, marks the company's eighth World premiere, and it runs through July 26 at the Factory Theatre.

Eudora (Annie Hochheiser) works in an arcade in Big Ugly, West Virginia (a real place), so you can imagine what kind of a life she leads. If you want a stuffed Care Bear, Ewok or Gizmo (from the movie "Gremlins") so faded and full of dust mites that you can hardly breathe when you're near it, this is the place to spend your tokens and cash in your tickets.

In her grungy denim short-shorts and oversized, Fruit of the Loom tee-shirt with an iron on decal that reads "Redden Arcade," Eudora slumps in mopey self-hatred. This is a disgust that she can't hide behind her big hair and droopy bangs.

A visit from wealthy cousin, Luann (Lauren Robinson), breaks the monotony for a moment. Luann has just left a good position sleeping with a politician in D.C., (and she's done it in such a spectacular way it was more embarrassing to her than it was to the politician.) Now she owes him money, and fast.

Robinson shows her hand far too early with her portrayal of this privileged princess. From the minute she opens her mouth we know she's not to be trusted. Behind her pinched smile, and her gaudy laced and floral-printed outfits, is a knife for the back of whomever gets in her way. Even if it's family.

Eudora is held back by a lack of money and the threat of physical violence from her father (who expects her to run his dying business forever). But she perks up when a mysterious stranger, Davis (Conor Walsh), blows into town. Davis has a keen interest in a rare fortune-telling machine housed in the arcade, and Eudora has a bit of an interest in him.

Walsh's tall, dark and sexy voice is enough to seduce any women in this play, though we know he will choose our protagonist. Still, tricky Luann lingers around him far too much for comfort.

Davis makes an offer that sets the play into motion. He is willing to give Eudora a lot of money for the fortune-telling machine. Actually, that's an understatement. If he can get his hands on that machine, he will change Eudora's life.

Zach Winston has directed "Fortune's Favored" with Vagabond's mission statement in the front of his mind: "Promoting collaboration between artist and audience."

The Factory Theatre has always been brilliant for this objective, and the three-quarter arrangement of the audience brings us right into the action. The acting is intimate because the actors are often so close you could reach out and touch them.

The night I attended, I could not only watch the action, but also look past the actors and watch the reaction of the playwright.

Beyond that, Winston allows the audience to be a major contributor in the art direction by never allowing us to actually see the most important prop in the play. The antique fortune-telling machine is hand-carved and lit from within with ancient incandescent bulbs that seem never to burn out. Furthermore, it is completely confabulated within the mind of each individual audience member. (In other words, it's mimed, but that doesn't sound nearly as cool.)

The action of the play pivots on this amazing, and perhaps one-of-a-kind, amusement park attraction. This other-worldly device spouts out prophetic premonitions in rhyming couplets. And in a remarkable legal arrangement between attorneys, agents, studio heads and the company that built the machine, these ridiculous recordings are voiced by none other the legendary John Barrymore (who does a remarkable impression of Mikey DeLoretto, BTW).

Winston also places this amazing machine right in the middle of the audience -- and I can't tell you how involved the audience is when Eudora comes running into our space with an axe.

Things are complicated when Eudora finds out that her old high school boyfriend used to be business partners with Davis, and the fact that Luann lurks around looking for something to turn to her favor. But they aren't complicated much.

Ultimately, Eudora spends the majority of the play in active inaction, running away from life without moving. The play doesn't pick up until the final scenes when legal conflicts between the two women come to a head. Here, the show really picks up, and all the most interesting arguments and conflicts in the play come one right after the other, reversal after reversal.

This is where we also hear most clearly the sharp wit and realistic dialogue of Moreau.

There are a lot of interesting elements in this iteration of "Fortune's Favored," and I look forward to seeing the next production. In that, I would like to see all the action and conflict of the last part of the play happen earlier, but you will need to decide for yourself what you think the next version of the play should look like. And maybe, if you have a production company, you'll have that opportunity.