This is a piece of writing about a piece of writing that is about writing. And if you were a character in Seminar, you would have decided by the first punctuation mark if what you are reading is doggerel or genius. (I submit defensively and/or humbly that it is neither.) Certainly, when an imperious writing instructor in Theresa Rebeck's play refuses to read beyond a semicolon in the first sentence of a student's work, declaring he is already certain of the mediocrity that follows it, it is meant to secure a laugh. And it does so in San Francisco Playhouse's production of the 2011 Broadway play.
But these instantaneous appraisals continue into more serious scenes. "You're not a plagiarist," an astonished character declares after reading a few words of a manuscript by another character accused of just that, somehow deducing from two or three sentences that the accused could never have committed this ultimate writers' sin. When we are asked to take these leaps, something begins to feel off about the whole affair, which of course is about more than just manuscripts and critiques.
There are egos to crush and psyches to manipulate in the name of provoking literature, or perhaps just for the twisted amusement of the big-name instructor to whom a quartet of students have paid top dollar. But the vessels that Rebeck has created for these psyches aren't particularly deep, and their internecine conflicts when teacher is away are of middling interest and sometimes mild humor.
These wannabe writers are variously defensive, pompous, seductive, and awkward, and are smoothly played by Lauren English, Patrick Russell, Natalie Mitchell, and James Wagner. Not surprisingly, the shiniest of roles is that of the self-congratulating seminar leader who boasts of his time at Yale with Robert Penn Warren or his adventures sharing cabbage with rebels in Moldova. Charles Shaw Robinson is mostly fine in this role that needs a little more flair than that to keep the play in the air.
Director Amy Glazer's production hits the necessary notes, abetted, as usual in an SF Playhouse production, by Bill English's handsome scenery. But Seminar is unconvincing in its efforts at wisdom, and not humorous enough to claim that that is its trump card. But thank you for staying with this small writing assignment until the final punctuation mark.
Seminar will run at San Francisco Playhouse through June 14. Tickets are $30-$100. Call 677-9596 or go to sfplayhouse.org.