Theatre review: Flyovers

“He gave me a reunion beating. My homecoming is complete.”
--Oliver

If you’re having any doubts about going to your high school reunion, don’t go to Flyovers. It’s the story of Oliver, a famous film critic with his own syndicated TV show a la “Siskel and Ebert,” who returns to his small Ohio hometown for his 25th high school reunion. He hasn’t returned in years, and the town hasn’t exactly prospered; the one factory has been closed down, and the people he went to high school with are all struggling, economically and emotionally.

Oliver (Richard Kind) finds himself at the home of Ted (Kevin Geer) and his wife Lianne (Donna Bullock). Ted was a bully and the bane of Oliver’s high school existence, but 25 years later, they seem to be trying to find some sort of common ground. Ted obviously resents Oliver’s success, and is jealous of the fact that he managed to escape, but Oliver bears him no lasting ill will. After a few drinks, Iris (Michele Pawk) joins them. She’s a friend of Ted’s, and Oliver lets slip he had a crush on her in high school. But Ted and Iris have conspired to turn Oliver’s trusting naiveté against him, and soon Oliver learns that bullies never change.

The ending moments are meant to be optimistic, I think, but I found the play’s central message to be a depressing one—that people don’t change. That bully in high school will always be a mean-spirited bully, and if you leave home, you’ll never fit in there again. Kevin Geer as Ted and Michele Pawk as Iris seem to feel this way too—their portrayals are steeped in bitterness and thinly-disguised regret. Richard Kind as Oliver seems a little willfully blind to Ted and Iris’s shortcomings, but by the end, we see this more as acceptance. He knows his place in the world, and he knows deep down that Ted hasn’t changed. He puts his trust and his hope in Iris—let’s all hope she doesn’t let him down.

Sandy Shinner’s direction is simple and evocative, as are Robin Paterson’s sets. Jeffrey Sweet’s script is overly fond of pointing out in various subtle ways that Oliver doesn’t belong in Ohio and never will; Richard Kind’s Oliver knows this, and doesn’t seem upset by it. It’s a strange dichotomy; oddly, it works, at least half the time. While it doesn’t address any of the larger issues that crop up (anti-intellectualism and anti-Semitism are the two most obvious), this is a quietly meaty play—it’s food for thought.


Written by Jeffrey Sweet
Directed by Sandy Shinner
With Donna Bullock (Lianne), Kevin Geer (Ted), Richard Kind (Oliver), and Michele Pawk (Iris)
Set and Lighting Design: Robin A. Paterson
Costume Design: Caroline Berti
Sound Design: Craig Lenti
Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission
78th Street Theatre Lab, 236 West 78th Street; 212-868-4444
Tickets $18
Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday and Monday at 7 pm; Sunday, February 15 at 2 pm and 7 pm
January 29—February 15, 2009