Moxie: Three Tales

Moxie, performed at Studio 1398, is a three-act show featuring stories of women set in different eras showing “moxie”.  I was not impressed with this play or the performance.  I must have a different operational definition of the word moxie.  I think of moxie as a demonstrating strength and determination in the face of difficulty. 

I also see this as a positive word – something to aspire to.  Our first act features Eugenia and is set in 1942.  Eugenia wants to be the first chair tuba player in a show with Bob Hope.  She attempts to achieve this by removing her competition for the role by dumping Nair on the other performer as she sleeps.  I’m not sure if this was supposed to be sarcastic or not, but I wasn’t really motivated to give it much thought.

Alana Eve Burman performs all three acts, and places a lot of emphasis on her on-stage costume stages.  I’m not sure whether this was to distinguish the three characters or fill time.  This play didn’t seem to have much to say and maybe she was aiming for a different target audience, but the audience members I saw leaving the theatre seemed to concur that the whole thing just seemed kind of strange.