Yale playwright's train of thought hard to catch

Timothy Cooper, BK '02, writes idea plays—his one-acts are driven much more by philosophies and speculations than by characters.

ERIN I. LEWIS/YH

His expansive ideas are presented in 10 Days to Better Kissing and Others with both imagination and originality. But this is a student playwright who has yet to harness his racing mind. Cooper's biggest problem lies in his greatest asset: the sheer breadth of his ideas. He thinks big, but overly abstract dialogue or too vast a subject can weaken such short pieces. Cooper often doesn't ground his ideas in tangible images or events, which would help to span the gaps in the audience's understanding. His writing sprints through thought processes and intrigues, but at the same time creates excessive confusion and ultimately fails to leave an impression.

However, in the best of these three one-acts, Cooper does take off from a more defined central situation and dramatic idea—a marriage counselor, a couple, and a discussion of the husband's kiss with a mysterious woman. It is the piece whose rather ill-fitting title leads the playbill: 10 Days to Better Kissing. Like all of the scenes, it blurs into fantasy, but here the writing is more controlled—the philosophizing does not stray too far from the pivotal theme, one of idealized passion and the fantasy of the perfect match. Rachel Grand, BR '02, is well cast as the marriage counselor—her tone and gestures imbue her character with humor that stitches together the realistic and more fantastical movements of the dialogue. Although the ending feels somewhat anticlimactic, as a whole the scene is well-developed and carries the interest of the audience.

The scene contrasts with Cooper's first one-act, On Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, which fails to sufficiently ground its abstractions and seems out of focus. Lauren O'Garro-Moore, BK '04, is well-spoken and engaging as the archaeology student Michelle, but neither she nor the radiant visual effects, projected onto a backdrop screen, can tie together the hazy and disparate movements of this scene. While at moments Cooper's dialogue works well with his minimalism, the scene tries to accomplish too much in too short a time. The abstract dialogue strays too precariously from the subject, the sentences flash by onscreen too quickly to be read, and the audience loses the connection. The portrait created by the winged Icarus (Raphi Soifer, TC '04) as he gazes at the fluttering movements on the background screen is a truly beautiful one, and should have been further set apart in its mystery. Had his previous dialogue with Michelle been more comprehensible, the audience would have sat back and been mesmerized by the image. As is, the audience is given too little information to ground itself, and continues to try to make sense of the events onstage, unable to appreciate this moment simply for its haunting power.

A lighter one-act titled Post- has been sandwiched in the middle of the show for a bit of comic relief. It takes place in a college dining hall and engages three philosophical and rather silly students in a satirical debate about the purpose of protesting "they," meaning the oppressive administration/government/powers that be. The idea is humorous, and the three actors shoot rapid-fire arguments with their own whimsical quirks, which are well-developed by the direction. It is easy to see how this scene might have been inspired by conversations taking place in just about any location on Yale's campus. Ultimately, though, the scene is a good joke that goes on a bit too long, and perhaps would have been better if it were shortened or used as a piece of another play.

Despite these problems, however, Cooper's scenes are always engaging. At times funny, visually dazzling, and unique, they show promise for a playwright who perhaps would do better writing longer, more developed pieces. On Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and 10 Days to Better Kissing exhibit absorbing ideas that bulge out of the time and dialogue that the playwright has allotted them. If the ideas don't convey themselves to the audience with sufficient clarity and depth, the scenes fall into confusion and improbability. Because he creates characters that are first and foremost idea-carriers, Cooper must ensure that their philosophizing can carry the play.

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