reviewed by Adam Crowe

My theatrical 2025 has started with another production of American Lives Theatre (ALT). I’m a fan of their choices, and wasn’t disappointed by their current production of Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath. Hnath gained attention and awards for his plays “A Doll’s House Part 2” and “The Christians”.

Red Speedo begins with a flurry of exposition by the excellent Alex Oberheid as Peter, the lawyer/ brother of Ray, the man in said red speedo. Ray’s hopes of making the Olympic swimming team teeter back and forth as the play progresses.

Cody Miley plays Ray. A simple man who knows how limited his life choices are and does what he thinks he has to in order to achieve them. Drew Vidal plays Ray’s swim coach, and the cast is completed by Paige Elisse as Lydia, Ray’s former girlfriend. The cast is uniformly good. Over 85 (intermission free) minutes, these characters each take a turn asking about the costs of “success’ in America and how outside forces may sometimes make decisions for us.

A friend recently reviewed a local musical and wrote about the concept of the “I Want” song. As a part of the structure of a musical, one or more characters will sing about their wants and dreams to move the story and tell us more about a character. Red Speedo features a cacophany of such sentiments, though not in song. None of the characters seem too concerned that their particular “want” will seriously affect the others.

Directed by ALT Artistic Director Chris Saunders, with a the lighting design by Laura Glover and a wonderful locker room set (with pool) by Matt Mott, Red Speedo is the latest in a line of thoughtful, surprising plays from ALT. If I have any quibbles, I lay them at the feet of the playwright. He bites off a lot and at times, I’m not sure he keeps it all digestible.

American Lives Theatre’s production of Red Speedo runs at Phoenix Theater Cultural Center through February 16th. Tickets are available through the Phoenix website at http://www.phoenixtheatre.org or by calling (317) 635-7529.

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