I'm not part of the target audience for "Missing Man." I'm not a veteran or a motorcyclist, nor am I touched when veteran motorcyclists show unexpected emotion. However, I found the play, if not pertinent, at least relatively pleasurable.
Performed at Live Bait Theater, this one-woman show tells of the cross-country motorcycle ride upon which the author, Mary Scruggs, and 300 Vietnam Vets embarked right before 9/11. At her best impersonating various motorcyclists and reenacting interactions with them, Mary is a master with the double take and no hack at memorization. In relating her story, Mary makes several solid 'audience laughs in recognition' statements. Unfortunately, a couple of those statements, for example, "Women don't usually get on a motorcycle unless a man is somehow involved," were off-handedly sexist and, as such, jarring. While some of the imagery was unimaginative, and a few asides irrelevant, Mary emerged sassy and affable, a motorcycling everywoman.
Alas, a relevant play requires more than a likeable narrator. Mary offers no epiphanic moment; unless you count her realization that the dead don't resent the living, which, as revelations go, lacks depth. Instead she attempts to gather disparate experiences and mold them into art. Regrettably, the elements she chooses-alcoholic parents, friend-who-might-be-more-than-a-friend, dependable husband-have only Mary as a common denominator. Not to say that can't be a successful device, but maybe because she herself isn't clear on how all of the elements connect, it doesn't quite work here.
Overall, I found "Missing Man" simultaneously compelling and tedious; perhaps it missed its calling as an NPR audio-essay. I would have happily tuned in while picking up my dry cleaning; however, granting it an hour and a half of undivided attention was a challenge.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
Map it