Welcome to My Wake - Whimsy Lives Here

Comedy, Dance, Multimedia, All Ages

Take the quirkiness of Zooey Deschanel, the pep of Kristen Chenowith and the eagerness of Glee's Rachel Berry and put them all together in a parking garage and you get Ingrid Nilson. Welcome To My Wake sees Nilson try to bond with the audience over her need to check off a few experiences from her bucket list, inspired by the tragic loss of a good friend.

She's pretty much an enchanting, slightly ADD, classic manic pixie dream girl, and seems to be having a genuinely good time on stage... er, lot. Nilson struggles with her need to assert her own identity, make it as an actress, experience the world on her own terms and deal with loss in a delightful, honest way. I can imagine that if quirky indie girls aren't your thing you'd grow tired of Nilson, but she seems genuine and completely devoid of irony. Honestly, it's refreshing.

Nilson shares how she came to be an actress, her education, and some personal experiences through dance, song and monologue. Her energy is impressive, although the show falters from time to time when she leaves the audience alone with recordings as she sprints off to prepare for her next scene. It's not that the recordings aren't interesting, it's that we're stuck staring at a concrete parking lot. The lights are on the whole time, and everyone is left sort of looking around wondering if she'll spring out of a corner or leap from a car. That's the other thing too - the parking garage is completely accessible to the people who have parked there, and you can expect her to be interrupted at least once by some unsuspecting car-owners. It ends up being pretty fun to watch, and I enjoyed the anticipation of whether or not someone would come and interrupt us. With the lights on the whole time I was free to look around and gauge the reactions and enjoyment of the rest of the crowd, who seemed to dig it and get a kick out of Nilson's antics.

I was left wondering why it needed to be in the parking garage, although I suppose the strangeness of the venue and the openness of it can do a lot to bring the audience together and open them up to a different experience. We received loot bags at the beginning that had a few audience-participation related goodies inside, and wrote on stick-it notes items from our own personal bucket lists. Mine? Get a beagle and name it Darwin. Go with an open mind and heart and you'll be surprised and entertained by Nilson's sweet honesty, but if you're not interested in that sort of thing this may not be your ideal play.
          

By Claire Hil