Review: The Early Education of Conrad Eppler | Echo Theatre | Bath House Cultural Center - Dallas

Dallas — It takes all kinds, the old saying goes. That doesn't just refer to people; art, too.

In a town where the theater output is fairly mainstream and often beholden to traditional storytelling models, it's good to know there's a group like Echo Theatre taking a rocketship flight out of the much-ballyhooed box.

Their biggest voyage away from the norm in their history is a new work by a local playwright, Isabella Russell-Ides' The Early Education of Conrad Eppler.

The play is the third and final of Echo's Big Shout Out playwriting competition winners that they've staged in a year (the first was The Executioner's Sons, the second A Most Dangerous Woman). Conrad Eppler is essentially a story about the title character (played by the charismatic Jennings Humphries), a kid at a Catholic orphanage who finally gets adopted. The new folks are the right fit, and the reason we know this makes up the middle 90 percent of the play.

Fantastical angels wage mind battles, wordplay-loving cosmic police are up to no good, and there are trips to a planet not in our solar system, as well as to the Earth's moon.

It's a strange trip indeed. For starters, there are the nuns at the orphanage, which might as well be called Our Lady of the Twisted Sisters. Sister Merry Berry (Kateri Cale) likes her scooter and her hooch, Sister Subordinary (LisaAnne Haram) wears and apron over her habit, and Mother Mary Extraordinary (Ellen Locy) is strict but full of wisdom. Or full of something. On this plane there's also the adoption agent, Miss Demeanor (Miller Pyke).

The angels who kickstart the fantasy with Conrad have names that might have come from A Midsummer Night's Dream: Alethia (Kylie Zeko), Epiphany (Tatum Zeko) and Honeycomb (Wendy Blackburn). Resistance comes from the bad guys Luce (David Lugo) and his sidekick Lt. Kilowatt (David Meglino)—"Luce" is short for the ultimate fallen angel.

On the other planet, the High Consul (Locy) is a marvelous design creation (flanked by winged sergeants, played by Tamitha Curiel and Stephanie Butler). There's a loopy oracle (Haram), the Tweedle Dee/Dum-like sisters Delta Delta (Tatum Zeko and Wendy Blackburn), not to mention our hero, a galactic cowboy named Roica (Matthew Clark).

What does it all mean? Many might leave with that question, but despite the many curves and nonsensical characters in this cosmic Habitrail, there are basic themes of good vs. evil and grace (in a broader theological sense). Heck, there is some Christian thought that heaven is a planet. And then there's the idea that people who are right for one another, often referring to the other as "the one," somehow find each other despite the constraints of geography and time. That person is usually thought of as a soulmate in a romantic relationship, but couldn't it work in other dynamics, such as children and parents?

The play is definitely out there, but no more than other fantastical journeys that you'd find in classic literature (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) or science fiction. Along the way, Ides gives us some memorable characters, funny one-liners ("can you give a planet Prozac?" asks one of the deities, referring to Earth) and ultimately, a touching story of an orphan whose destiny is explored through highly imaginative storytelling.

Some of the actors in Pam Myers-Morgan's production are stronger than others, and it's no surprise that the ol' pros here—Lugo, Locy and Meglino—are the standouts. Lugo, a terrific comic actor with an endless supply of impressions and expressions, supplies a good chunk of the laughter.

Christopher Jenkins' set, with galactic Spirograph patterns and wonderfully bizarre set pieces that function as character or props, is only bested by Ryan Matthieu Smith's whimsical and beautifully constructed costumes.

It might run on for about 20 minutes too long, but it's a fun and bizarre ride. As one character says about the Garden of Eden story, if the snake hadn't entered the equation, then the whole adventure wouldn't have happened.

What writer can't resist a good serpent?