By John Benson | March 27, 2019
For more than a decade, the tiny-home movement has acted as a metaphor for less being more in a materialistic world.
It’s this dichotic notion — simple living in a world where more means seemingly everything — that playwright Chelsea Marcantel explores in her new romantic-comedy play, “Tiny Houses.”
As a co-production with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Play House is presenting its world premiere through April 14 in the Outcalt Theatre at Playhouse Square.
“This is a play about building a home, both literally and figuratively,” said Cleveland Play House Artistic Director Laura Kepley, who is directing the production. “The play asks those questions: What makes a home? What do I really need to be happy versus what I’ve been told to like?
“Something we’ve been talking about a lot in rehearsal is how we live in an Instagram culture where everything looks so good and so perfect. But when you actually move towards that, you see that’s an illusion and that you have to be happy inside as opposed to what you’re posting to the world.”
While “Tiny Houses” received its first public reading in 2016 at the Chautauqua Theatre Company’s New Play Workshop, last year the project was further developed during Cleveland Play House’s New Ground Theatre Festival, where Marcantel received the Roe Green Award.
Kepley said the fact “Tiny Houses” is in a way a home-grown production is not only very special to the company but also speaks to the heart of the New Ground Theatre Festival.
“New plays are critical to the life, health and vibrancy of American theater,” Kepley said. “The New Ground Theatre Festival is when we get to share in development with our audience who we bring in to help shape and develop the story. When we worked up Chelsea’s play last year, we knew we wanted to produce it.
“Being able to workshop it with actors reading the play at music stands, you could feel the audience really leaning into those romantic-comedy tropes and responding to the humor.”
“Tiny Houses,” at its core, is a romantic comedy that Kepley said is influenced by ’80s and ’90s films.
“Marcantel talked a lot about ‘When Harry Met Sally…,’” Kepley said. “It’s so interesting to see a playwright of one generation reaching back to early generations’ romantic comedies and being inspired by that.”
Still, “Tiny Houses” has a distinct modern flair that speaks to millennials. Kepley said many of its characters are doing jobs that didn’t exist 15 years ago. They include being an autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, artist who makes videos that help relax people, while another is being an online seller of haunted dolls. There’s also a tiny house-construction consultant.
In the show, lead character Cath (Kate Eastman) becomes burned out on a life associated with working in finance at New York City hedge fund. That’s when she decides to move west with her boyfriend, Bohdi (Peter Hargrave), whom she’s only known for four months.
Kepley said “Tiny Houses” attempts to answer whether less is more, as well as define the meaning of commitment.
“For some people, especially millennials, there’s this idea of getting off the grid and maybe not needing all of these things that we’ve been brought up to think we need,” Kepley said. “If we can simplify our life, declutter, life will be simpler.
“In the play, the character Bohdi says, ‘Tiny is happy.’ I think that’s a very attractive ethos. However, the characters discover over the course of the play simple can get very complicated, as well.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated at 5:32 p.m. March 28 to correct the name of the theater in the information box.
