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Playwright Laurie Brooks’ subtle mix of fiction and history (including a bit of modified history) craftily portrays the obsessive curiosity of one of America’s best-loved founding fathers, as well as the social environment of his time and the ongoing clash of religion with science. Directed by Kyle Hatley, the production was imaginative, inventive, and visually arresting. While ostensibly about scientific discovery, the character relationships were what drove this story.

Set just prior to the Revolutionary War, the play focused on Franklin’s controversial belief that lightning could be tamed. This put him at odds with his son William, who wants to pursue a career in politics, and Reverend Rickersley, who sees Franklin’s experiments as an affront to God. Franklin’s daughter, Sally, shared her father’s curiosity for science while his wife, Deborah—“Debbie” in the script—regarded his experiments with exasperated patience.

The title character is a young man named John, indentured to a conjuring street magician named Spencer—when Franklin observed him being shocked by an “electrical fire” during a performance stunt, he impulsively bought the young man’s contract. John shared Franklin’s obsessive belief that lightning and electricity are one and the same, and together they work toward proving this theory.

Theodore Swetz portrayed Franklin with a convincing likability (and likeness), displaying both innocent passion for intellectual pursuits and furious rebellion to social norms. Swetz carried the performance with a joie de vivre, pausing only briefly to spout some of Franklin’s famous aphorisms. Yet he displayed a Franklin in true distress when faced with the consequences of his rash decisions.

John, the young apprentice, was played by Sam Cordes. His “shocking” physical performance elicited an empathetic response; the twinges and tics he kept up throughout were both comically timed and endearingly pathetic. His stoop-shouldered posture effectively belied the enthusiasm and determination of the character.

Franklin’s son William, the aspiring politician, was played by Steven Eubank as punctilious and slightly petulant. The character was torn between his family loyalty and his career goals, as he sees his father’s behavior to be detrimental to the Franklins’ reputation. Eubank delivered one of the best lines of the show in an impassioned speech about the purity of politics.

The rest of the cast brought forward excellent supporting voices. Ron Megee was creepy and conniving as the magician Spencer, and Matthew Rapport was pompous and self assured as the Reverend Rickersley; Izzie Baldwin played Sally with an adorable precocity and Shelley Wyche served as the practically minded, yet supportive Debbie.

The design team also excelled. Set designer Kerith Parashak and prop designer Ron Megee set up Franklin’s workshop and Spencer’s magic show with all sorts of contraptions and period-appropriate contrivances. Georgiana Buchanan’s intricate costumes were equally great. The lightning and electrical fire were brought to life by David Keihl’s sound design, projections by SeifAllah Cristobal, and lighting by Art Kent in startling displays of the ferocious natural element at the heart of this show.

REVIEW:
Coterie Theatre
Ben Franklin’s Apprentice
Runs through May 7 (reviewed April 8, 2011).
First floor of the Crown Center Mall
2450 Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, MO
For tickets, information, and showtimes: call 816-474-6552 or visit www.coterietheatre.org.

Top Photo: Izzie Baldwin, Theodore Swetz, and Sam Cordes in Ben Franklin's Apprentice (Photo by J. Robert Schraeder)

By Libby Hanssen

Traditional and New Classical, Theatre Contributor

Libby Hanssen holds degrees from University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) and Ball State University (B.M.) in trombone performance and also studied music education at Indiana University. She has studied trombone with Carl Lenthe, JoDee Davis, John Seidel, John Huntoon and Denis Wick, and music education with Brent Gault, Estelle Jorgensen and Katherine Strand.

While at IU, she taught classes in general music, focusing on listening skills and music fundamentals through practical music usage and exploring new sound constructions. During the course of her studies at UMKC, she performed with many ensembles, including the Conservatory Orchestra and Musica Nova. She has also performed with the Kansas City Puccini Festival, the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, the New Jazz Order, the Indiana Wind Symphony and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra.

In 2010, she was a fellow (one of 23 journalists selected from across the US) for the seventh annual National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University’s Journalism School in New York City.

Most of her free time is spent with her three boys (son, dog and husband) and camera, exploring the many fine aspects of Kansas City living. She enjoys listening to KKFI - Kansas City Community Radio and KCUR - Kansas City's NPR station, visiting Kansas City's fine collection of museums and galleries, and scavenging in thrift and antique stores to add to her collection of toy instruments.

She writes for the joy of words and the process of constructing a story, maintaining the blog Proust Eats a Sandwich (www.prousteatsasandwich.wordpress.com). She is working on her first book: Murray Goes to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.