Review of Broken Nose Theatre's From White Plains

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called From White Plains. It was directed by Spenser Davis and written by Michael Perlman. It is about a man named Dennis (David Weiss) who made a movie that just won an Oscar and it was about bullying in a high school that Dennis went to. It is about Ethan Rice (Adam Soule), the guy who he wrote the movie about, finding out about what he did wrong. It is about trying to get revenge for Dennis's friend Mitchell dying and Ethan Rice learning to apologize. Dennis has to learn to accept apologies. It was a show about things that are wrong in life, like bullying, but it wasn't just sad and depressing, it was sometimes funny and you cared for all the characters--even Ethan Rice sometimes. I think that people should definitely go see this show. It is a great show because it made me think differently about a girl who was sort of bullying me and it made me feel sad for people who are being bullied much worse than my problem.

In the first scene, Ethan has just watched the Oscars and has just realized, "oh my gosh, that movie is all about me." The first scene is big because it has a lot of stuff that you need to know in it about Ethan. Like you learn that Ethan was a bully in high school in that scene. He doesn't seem like a bad guy now, but he still shouldn't have done the stuff that he did. He has a friend named John (John Overton Lewis III) who is there and is asking him all these questions: "Did you really do that?" Ethan changes because he learns how to apologize, which he should have learned a long time ago. Apologizing isn't always easy.

I thought that Dennis and Gregory (Ben Burke) could have had a great relationship but that great relationship was kind of wrecked by Dennis being so uptight about getting revenge. The relationship was good because they loved each other and were trying to help each other, but sometimes they didn't want each other's help and that is what I think kind of ruined their relationship. On stage you saw that they loved each other because they were kissing. People don't just kiss romantically because they think they are nice people! I think that they could fix it because at the end, I didn't really understand it at first, but Gregory I think is talking to his parents about how he is gay, even though his dad doesn't like people who are gay. I think he is inviting them over so he can tell them he is gay because he is still in love with Dennis even though Dennis wasn't very nice to him. Dennis is a different person at the end because he kind of understood that Ethan didn't want to kill Mitchell. I think Gregory helped Dennis understand what Ethan meant, but at first Dennis didn't want his advice.

My favorite scene was the train scene. It featured Gregory and John. They were on a train and they were trying to pretend that they didn't know the people in the newspaper even though they knew them personally. That scene was important because that showed that Ethan's friend John wasn't as bad as Ethan and those two could actually become friends. John is I think one of the most interesting characters because he loves to be friends with Ethan but sometimes he doesn't like it at all because of how Ethan treats him and gay people. He was bullied and he didn't know his friend was a bully. He is not seeking revenge because he decides, "I just want to have a nice life. I don't want to get revenge." I thought it would be cool if we got to see his fiancee because then you would be able to see how John and Emily really loved each other. And after he gets off the train, Gregory is inspired to do something big in order to make Dennis happy.

People who would like this show are people who like getting good advice about how to handle being bullied and having a game in your mind tying to figure out the personality of each character. I was never bored during this show because I was always on the edge of my seat to see what would happen next and it gave me a lot to think about. I think that all the actors were great and people should definitely go see this show.

Photos: Charlie Ray Bressler