Wheel of Fortune

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What appears to be filmmaker Jing Ma’s first stage play, Wheel of Fortune is a touching story of a depressed man about to turn 30 and without a job or a girlfriend. His bad luck changes when his mother visiting from Delaware becomes a Tarot card reader and predicts a change of life with the “Wheel of Fortune” card. Directed by the author, the play has a few too many scenes and set changes (like a film script) for the tiny stage of UNDER St. Marks Theater but it remains both engrossing and poignant.

Three weeks without a job, Derek is lonely enough to talk to his plant whom he names Diane who then comes alive and appears to him as a person. When Dalia moves in next door, he awkwardly attempts to approach her but he reminds her too much of her ex-stalker boyfriend Stephen for her to be interested in him. His mother Miranda drops in from Delaware to take a seminar in order to get a job back home but stays long enough to attempt to draw out her melancholy and sad son. When Dalia’s identical twin sister Vanessa housesits and expresses an interest in Derek, he seems to come out of his shell and make a change of life.

Although Ma’s direction is a tad slow, the play remains poignant in a “Notes from the Underground” sort of way, a better title for this plot of a man trying to find his way out of his melancholic depression. Xiaoxiao Sun makes Derek wistful and sad throughout though his awkward delivery somewhat undercuts his characterization. Charming Kristina Del Mar demonstrates her versatility in three roles: the wise Diane the plant, the cold and standoffish Dalia, and the vivacious Vanessa. As Derek’s mother Miranda, Ronit Asheri plays one of those pushy women who are always turning up and knowing what is better for everyone else except themselves.

Zhuosi “Joyce” He’s setting makes the most of the small stage though a larger theater would have accommodated the many locales more comfortably. The costumes designed by Sam Connor are appropriate for the six characters. Em Stripling’s lighting is rather basic for the different locales and times of day. Aside from the catchy and atmospheric transitions between scenes used from the soundtrack of “Taxi Driver,”  the original music by AviShai Dayanim appears as the ending music and that used in the projection video. Most effective is Kyle Parker Daniels’ sound design which incorporates internet sounds and voices, door bells, phone calls, and overheard offstage conversations.

Jing Ma’s Wheel of Fortune is an interesting drama of loneliness and melancholy in the big city which needs to be fleshed out to be truly satisfying. As of now it is partly there but has missing information: what did Derek do for a living? What kind of job is he looking for? What brought him to the big city from Delaware? How long has he been friendless? The fact that we are asking these answers reveals how successful Ma has been in creating an engaging set of characters. The winning cast is mostly effective in keeping us interested in what happens to these people.

Wheel of Fortune (through August 19, 2023)

The Little Shakespeare Festival, FRIGID New York

@F451 Productions

UNDER St. Marks Theater, 94 St. Marks Place, between First Avenue and Avenue A, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.frigid.nyc/event/6897:467/

Running time: one hour and ten minutes without an intermission