Expect Laughter, Maybe Tears, Taking in Playhouse’s KY Voices Production
Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 8:05 am
By BEN KLEPPINGER
The cast of “Grounded,” from left: Patricia Hammonds, Erika S. Lee, Heath Hadon, and Grace Poganski.
Kentucky is all too often the butt of jokes about rednecks, backwards education or meth heads. Sometimes it seems like the larger world around the Bluegrass State looks right past our humanity and finds nothing more than punchlines or cautionary tales. The cheap shots and tired stereotypes about my home are commonplace enough that I have even become somewhat desensitized to them. Which is why attending the newest play at Pioneer Playhouse — “Grounded” — was such a breath of fresh air.
Based on the book of the same name by area resident Angela Correll, “Grounded” paints a beautiful portrait of Kentucky culture that anyone who grew up in the state will be able to relate to.
The play is premiering at Pioneer Playhouse as the outdoor theater’s annual locally-focused performance. Once a year, the Playhouse puts on a production based in or around central Kentucky, rich with nearby locales, events and history.
As in previous years, the local play is the one to see if you can only see one play.
Kentucky traditions and cultural quirks are embedded throughout “Grounded,” along with honest acknowledgment of some of the hurdles and problems we face — job loss, big-city suck and drug addiction, to name a few.
The premise and plot of the play is fairly straightforward. It’s predictable — but it’s the good kind of predictable that’s friendly and enjoyable, not overworked or tired.
The lead character Annie (Erika S. Lee) finds herself “grounded” in more ways than one as she returns to her childhood home in “Somerville,” Kentucky, to live with her grandmother Beulah (Patricia Hammond) while she figures out what to do with her life.
While in Somerville, Annie rediscovers a love for the country and reconnects with a childhood friend, Jake (Heath Haden).
The acting in “Grounded” is top-notch. Lee, Hammond and Haden come across as honest and relatable. The audience is right there with them as they portray characters who are trying to find ways to balance themselves in a redefined world without losing the valuable roots of their past.
Jake’s mother, Evelyn (Grace Poganski), and a local deputy sheriff, Woody (Liam McDermott) provide many of the laughs that dot the landscape between more dramatic moments.
When the audience laughs during “Grounded,” they are laughing with the characters, not at them. The characters make the same kinds of jokes and sarcastic comments we all make in our everyday lives. It’s familiar, but it’s also refreshingly different from the now-ubiquitous “turtle man” style of humor that objectifies people with stereotypes to get a cheap laugh.
There are one or two moments when the play borders on preachy. A few lines about the benefits of local farming sound more like rehearsed debate arguments than natural conversation. But those moments are fleeting and don’t affect the overall feel of the performance.
If you consider yourself a Kentuckian, you will enjoy “Grounded” immensely. It will make you happy, it will make you sentimental, it will make you laugh, and it may very well make you cry. It most definitely will not make you want to move to New York City.
IF YOU GO
“Grounded” continues Tuesday-Saturday at Pioneer Playhouse, 840 Stanford Road, Danville.
Shows 8:30 p.m., dinner offered 7:30 p.m. featuring Kentucky Proud products
Tickets: pioneerplayhouse.com or (859) 236-2747, group rates offered
