NEW YORK—Home, a feeling of belonging, sharing a life with someone you love are things most people want. But what happens when your priorities differ from those closest to you? Bekah Brunstetter explores this situation in her very engrossing drama “OOHRAH!”
At a North Carolina military base, army wife Sara (Jennifer Mudge) is putting together packages of food for the troops overseas. She’s also looking forward to her husband Ron (Darren Goldstein) coming home from his fourth tour of duty, at which time he will leave the military and get a job in civilian life.
Staying with Sara while her husband is away is her sister Abby (Cassie Beck). A flight attendant, Abby is engaged to Christopher (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe), a young man more interested in computer games than reality. While he loves Abby dearly, Christopher lacks the drive and ambition of someone like Ron. As a result, Abby is starting to have second thoughts about the impending wedding.
Sara, meanwhile, is worried about her 14-year-old daughter Lacey’s (Sami Gayle) decision to join the marines when she’s old enough.
Sara’s concerns quickly turn to joy when Ron comes home earlier than expected, causing her to enthusiastically begin planning for the future, from talking about remodeling the house to helping Ron get a civilian job (perhaps as a manager at Home Depot). But for Ron, who is accustomed to life in the military and the camaraderie he enjoyed there, switching lifestyles, and mindsets, is not that easy.
While Ron and Sara struggle for the normalcy they both crave, Abby finds her life upended when, on one of her flights home, she meets Chip (Maximilian Osinski), a handsome marine getting ready for his first tour of duty. Instantly attracted to him, she invites Chip to dinner, hoping something more will happen between them. Yet for all of Chip’s military bearing, there’s something amiss about him, something Ron, and, in a nice touch, Christopher, both pick up on—a secret that shows that Chip’s own picture of the future may be just as misguided as everyone else’s.
“OOHRAH!” is a compelling story about personal hopes and dreams, and what happens when these plans are forced to face the cold light of reality. Brunstetter’s text comes back to this issue time and again, most notably with Ron and Sara, the latter who desperately wants to be the perfect wife in the perfect suburban home. These needs crystallize in her attempts to hold a birthday party for Lacey, making sure the food is served just right, planning the taking of family pictures, and so on. However, during the process, she drives her husband to distraction.
Ron, in addition to having to sit through a job interview conducted by two kids half his age, is not given time to adjust to the prospect of civilian life. Things aren’t made easier with the appearance of Chip, who is filled with patriotic pride and is eager to enter a life Ron is not yet ready to leave. The same premise is also evident with Abby and her conflicting feelings for Chip and Christopher.
Mudge is completely believable as a military wife, one perhaps not too educated, and who is devoted to keeping the home fires burning. Fearful of losing her daughter to the military, she has become obsessed with having a perfect life with her husband.
Goldstein does a fine job as Ron, a man who takes pride in his military service and being part of something bigger than himself, with the thought of leaving that life for one where he has to deal with customers and corporate bureaucracy, not to mention ceiling fans, making his blood run cold.
Beck is excellent as the sexually and emotionally conflicted Abby, heading for a marriage she’s not ready for and latching onto Chip in an effort to feel something deeper. (Beck and Osinski have great chemistry together, adding to their smoldering tension.)
Osinski works well as Chip, a young man who feels he was born to serve his country. At the same time, being the catalyst for events in the story, he offers another look at Brunstetter’s equation, that is, when do personal priorities change from needing to be true to oneself to simply being selfish? While Chip’s intentions are never in doubt, (nor are Ron and Sara’s love for one another), does that negate the fact that things, which may be right for one person, may be wrong for everyone else?
Near-Verbrugghe is okay as Christopher, though the character is written one-dimensionally. Yet the actor brings a nice everyman quality to the role, making him a sort of good-natured doofus who can’t quite make life work no matter how he tries. Gayle is fine as Lacey, and J.R. Horne is good as Sarah’s and Abby’s ailing father.
Director Evan Cabnet keeps the action moving nicely, though the story needs a bit of tightening in act two. (The lovely kitchen set by Lee Savage is also deserving of mention.) But all in all, “OOHRAH!” is a moving story of ordinary people trying to decide if compromise can be possible where their future happiness is concerned.
OOHRAH!
Atlantic Theater Stage 2
330 West 16th Street
Tickets: 212-279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com
Running Time: 2 hours
Closes: Sept. 27
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication The Stage.
At a North Carolina military base, army wife Sara (Jennifer Mudge) is putting together packages of food for the troops overseas. She’s also looking forward to her husband Ron (Darren Goldstein) coming home from his fourth tour of duty, at which time he will leave the military and get a job in civilian life.
Staying with Sara while her husband is away is her sister Abby (Cassie Beck). A flight attendant, Abby is engaged to Christopher (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe), a young man more interested in computer games than reality. While he loves Abby dearly, Christopher lacks the drive and ambition of someone like Ron. As a result, Abby is starting to have second thoughts about the impending wedding.
Sara, meanwhile, is worried about her 14-year-old daughter Lacey’s (Sami Gayle) decision to join the marines when she’s old enough.
Sara’s concerns quickly turn to joy when Ron comes home earlier than expected, causing her to enthusiastically begin planning for the future, from talking about remodeling the house to helping Ron get a civilian job (perhaps as a manager at Home Depot). But for Ron, who is accustomed to life in the military and the camaraderie he enjoyed there, switching lifestyles, and mindsets, is not that easy.
While Ron and Sara struggle for the normalcy they both crave, Abby finds her life upended when, on one of her flights home, she meets Chip (Maximilian Osinski), a handsome marine getting ready for his first tour of duty. Instantly attracted to him, she invites Chip to dinner, hoping something more will happen between them. Yet for all of Chip’s military bearing, there’s something amiss about him, something Ron, and, in a nice touch, Christopher, both pick up on—a secret that shows that Chip’s own picture of the future may be just as misguided as everyone else’s.
“OOHRAH!” is a compelling story about personal hopes and dreams, and what happens when these plans are forced to face the cold light of reality. Brunstetter’s text comes back to this issue time and again, most notably with Ron and Sara, the latter who desperately wants to be the perfect wife in the perfect suburban home. These needs crystallize in her attempts to hold a birthday party for Lacey, making sure the food is served just right, planning the taking of family pictures, and so on. However, during the process, she drives her husband to distraction.
Ron, in addition to having to sit through a job interview conducted by two kids half his age, is not given time to adjust to the prospect of civilian life. Things aren’t made easier with the appearance of Chip, who is filled with patriotic pride and is eager to enter a life Ron is not yet ready to leave. The same premise is also evident with Abby and her conflicting feelings for Chip and Christopher.
Mudge is completely believable as a military wife, one perhaps not too educated, and who is devoted to keeping the home fires burning. Fearful of losing her daughter to the military, she has become obsessed with having a perfect life with her husband.
Goldstein does a fine job as Ron, a man who takes pride in his military service and being part of something bigger than himself, with the thought of leaving that life for one where he has to deal with customers and corporate bureaucracy, not to mention ceiling fans, making his blood run cold.
Beck is excellent as the sexually and emotionally conflicted Abby, heading for a marriage she’s not ready for and latching onto Chip in an effort to feel something deeper. (Beck and Osinski have great chemistry together, adding to their smoldering tension.)
Osinski works well as Chip, a young man who feels he was born to serve his country. At the same time, being the catalyst for events in the story, he offers another look at Brunstetter’s equation, that is, when do personal priorities change from needing to be true to oneself to simply being selfish? While Chip’s intentions are never in doubt, (nor are Ron and Sara’s love for one another), does that negate the fact that things, which may be right for one person, may be wrong for everyone else?
Near-Verbrugghe is okay as Christopher, though the character is written one-dimensionally. Yet the actor brings a nice everyman quality to the role, making him a sort of good-natured doofus who can’t quite make life work no matter how he tries. Gayle is fine as Lacey, and J.R. Horne is good as Sarah’s and Abby’s ailing father.
Director Evan Cabnet keeps the action moving nicely, though the story needs a bit of tightening in act two. (The lovely kitchen set by Lee Savage is also deserving of mention.) But all in all, “OOHRAH!” is a moving story of ordinary people trying to decide if compromise can be possible where their future happiness is concerned.
OOHRAH!
Atlantic Theater Stage 2
330 West 16th Street
Tickets: 212-279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com
Running Time: 2 hours
Closes: Sept. 27
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication The Stage.
