"Windows" is by Tawni O'Dell, whose play "Pay the Writer" tells a strong story about people who care about each other. It's got people, passion and feels personal. Those are three things absent in "Windows."
A series of scenes, or one act plays related to the pandemic, they are loosely tied together by the idea of a window into these people's world. The problem, especially for people who have gone through the pandemic, is it feels as if it has been written by someone who read about it in the papers. We see numerous scenes, including one in jail, that are well written, but highly impersonal. And in a world where so many people lost their lives, using the pandemic as a gimmick just doesn't work.
It doesn't exactly bait and switch, but this show, directed by Mitchell Maxwell, feels like a series of star turns. The scenes are there for the famous actors to act, not to build toward a good single show. Tony Danza appears briefly. Tova Feldshuh also makes a fairly brief appearance. It's a play full of stars, award winners and talent. But in the end, it feels like a series of scenes, like pages torn from a writer's notebook.
"Windows" gives us tantalizing glimpses of what could be a strong play, but instead goes from one act to one act. We hardly make emotional connections. The pandemic feels reduced to a plot device. While doing a play about the pandemic is admirable, this doesn't really scratch the surface of the emotion, the loss or the suffering. There is some comedy and there are characters. But the math doesn't work. It doesn't really add up to a single show. It's a case where the sum of the parts is less than each of the parts alone. "Pay the Writer" was a pleasure to see. That was a play that offered a beautiful view.
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