Mosaic Theatre: A Case For The Existence Of God

 A very strange name for a play that never once references either God or religion.  And if the implication is that if a straight white man and a gay black man can see into one another's humanity--then there must be a God...well, then that's just banal.  The playwright, Samuel D. Hunter, comes with an impressive pedigree down to writing the play, and then the screenplay adaptation of "The Whale."  

The story is about two men who grew up together but apart and finally come together when one needs the professional services of the other.  A friendship develops over shared interests, and shared tragedies until their lives become irreversibly entwined.  The start was a little off.  One of the actors seemed to be leaning on cliches to reveal his character.  The other, Jaysen Wright, who played Keith, the black, gay, Mortgage Broker who is tying to foster-adopt an infant girl, seemed to have a better handle on where the character's center of gravity was.  

As the 100 minutes or so continued to unfold, Lee Osorio's portrayal of Ryan; white, straight, former high school star jock and now divorced, and about to enter into a battle over full custody of his infant daughter with his ex-, rose with the intensity of the script.  The play is set in Twin Falls, Idaho, and so the one thing that we have to give the author, the outcome was politically resonant with the state and city.

The stage was stark and beautiful.  The outcome, a pitcher of loosely sweetened lemon aide from the bountiful harvest of life's lemons.  

Ryan [Lee Osorio] and Keith [Jaysen Wright]