At first, the retaliation seems deserved. A school bully from years ago gets his comeuppance at the hands of a former victim who has a platform much larger than high school corridors. In a kind of reverse of Tom Hanks' Oscar speech, in which he accidentally outed as gay a former teacher whom he meant to praise, From White Plains begins after a screenwriter has outed as a bully an old classmate in his acceptance speech. His winning movie is a lightly fictionalized account of the toll taken by one high-school bully in particular.
Anyone who has ever gone to school has encountered at least one memorable bully, and in my case, the ignoble goal was just to stay out of the line of fire. It was all considered just a rite of passage, except in the case of one Mitchell Cole who killed himself after years of torment from schoolmate Ethan Rice. Another of Ethan's victims turned his experiences into an award-winning screenplay, but neither the movie's success nor his naming-names speech has provided him cathartic release. Dennis obsessively keeps up the assault with YouTube postings that not only cost Ethan his friends and job, but also puts at risk Dennis' own relationship with the easygoing Gregory, who just wants life to go back to normal.
New Conservatory Theatre Center is presenting the West Coast premiere of From White Plains, written by Michael Perlman in collaboration with its original New York cast. Director Sara Staley smoothly moves through mirroring scenes between gay lovers Dennis and Gregory and jock buddies Ethan and John. Gregory and John, the non-combatants in the battle between the now-alpha Dennis and the newly victimized Ethan, are increasingly disgusted by their friends' behavior both past and present. The play does have a resolution of sorts, at least up until a confusing series of final tableaus.
Much of the power of the production comes from the polished and emotionally committed work of the cast. As the crusading Oscar-winner Dennis, Sal Mattos conveys a vengeful ferocity (though his in-character stammering could lose a few hems and haws). Ed Moreno is appealing in a teddy-bear fashion as he envisions a white-picket life with Dennis. As Ethan, the former bully now a tempered asshole, Nick Trengove is able to make the character likeable and even sympathetic. Fernando Navales plays Ethan's best friend, John, with an inviting affability that becomes increasingly taxed by Ethan's past and present behavior.
While cyberbullying is one of those "trending" topics that manage to commodify any spontaneous gathering of ideas, Perlman's play manages to avoid the trappings of simplistic after-school sermonizing. White hats and black hats bleed into gray in an era when social media have given bullying a pulpit that extends far beyond the schoolyard.
From White Plains will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through April 26. Tickets are $25-$45. Call (415) 862-8972 or go to nctcsf.org.