The play, by Justin Locklear, takes on the woes and charms of small-town America.
By Manuel Mendoza
10:00 AM on Feb 16, 2024
“I have the strangest feeling this isn’t real?” says a prospective buyer in Town for Sale, the latest production by Dallas’ Ochre House Theater to walk a high wire.
What is real is the way the cast launches itself full-bodied — and full-throated — into playwright Justin Locklear’s hilarious satire on the woes and charms of small-town America and the hucksters who exploit them.
Welcome to Ochre House’s singular brand of handmade theater, cramming lighthearted if pointed send-ups of late capitalism into a converted 50-seat storefront in Exposition Park.
The appeal of the title town, Milk Springs, is its magical healing waters, the one thing left after a mining accident “nearly killed half the town,” as one character puts it. Omar Padilla, as the depressed, deadpan desk clerk of the only hotel still in operation, makes much hay — complete with graphic gestures and sound effects — of how the water fixed his bedroom issues.
As the man sent to execute the deal by the head office of a faceless corporation, Tommy Stuart anchors Town for Sale in a version of reality, at least for a time. Eventually, he too can no longer resist the circus-like atmosphere and joins in.
Donning an old-fashioned boater hat and checkered sport coat, he’s summarily rejected upon arrival. But when the townspeople mistake him for a world-traveling professor who’s been writing them encouraging letters, they turn on a dime.
Seen on opening night Wednesday, Town for Sale contains several such reversals, including a late revelation that almost explains all the absurd doings.
Locklear, Ochre House’s artist in residence, peppers the play’s physical hijinks and snappy dialogue with half a dozen production numbers, ranging from sickly sweet ballads to choral sing-alongs. Starting with a jaunty opening tune that’s half promotion, half for-sale ad, cast members throw themselves into their easily excitable characters and the ever-shifting action.
Town for Sale is at its most absurd when what would be considered a dream sequence in any other play arrives mid-show. In this context, it’s an extension of Locklear and Ochre House’s madcap style.
Played by Lauren Massey, Grace, the hotel owner, is the only character besides the buyer/professor with both feet on the ground. Less rooted are the townspeople portrayed by Padilla, Carla Parker, Meagan Harris, Elizabeth Evans and Antonio Arrebola, who also plays a box drum. Gregg Prickett accompanies the songs on acoustic guitar, sometimes with Harris on bass.
Ochre House artistic director Matthew Posey’s colorfully painted set depicts the hotel lobby. A moveable picket fence is the linchpin. Costumes by Samantha Rodriguez Corgan are eclectic and rustic.
All the audience can do is hang on as Town for Sale takes it on a side-splitting carnival ride.
Details
Through March 2 at 825 Exposition Ave., Dallas. $12-$25. Pay what you can on Feb. 19. ochrehousetheater.org.
