“This is the weather…and we’re in that exact situation,” says Maia, facilitator of the Buddhist Trauma Group, a central figure in Emma Shenshan’s new play The Fears. She is talking about the atmosphere of the room. It’s a small, overwhelming room with uneven office chairs around a low wooden table. There, she and six others meet regularly to talk through storms of anger, grief and panic. Or at least try. Interpersonal conflicts, conflict neurosis, and the domino effect of triggers cause ruptures rather than breakthroughs, and eventually even the group’s philosophical underpinnings begin to crumble.
Presented by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh at the Pershing Square Signature Center, the characters’ personalities come through clearly from the opening scene of this intriguing but lacking play. Dan Algrant’s production is precise and convincing, especially at the entrance. Newcomer Thea (Kelly Bishe) arrives, half in doubt. Sticking to her rules, Rosa (Natalie Woollams-Torres) comes and goes with authority. Fiz (Melan Kurgani, gay stereotypical yet comical) bursts in with declarative flamboyance, while the cautious Suzanne (Robin Peterson), who is always at odds with Fiz, slips by unobtrusively. Maia (Maddy Corman) flutters like a breeze in layers, and Mark (hard-headed Karl Hendrick Lewis) arrives late and flustered. Young goth Katie (painfully vulnerable Jess Gayball) bursts in last and withdraws into herself.
Each character’s trauma is spelled out explicitly or hinted at through individual cues, such as why Fiz’s sister is a sensitive topic, or why Thea is an encyclopedia of all the traumatic events the world has endured. It is useful to explain whether you have holistic knowledge, etc.
Shen Shan’s portrayal of spiritualism includes satirical elements such as Maia’s performative expressions of empathy (purring and affirmative “MM”) and group members cracking down on each other’s reactions. contains elements. This is intended for control rather than support. At times, however, “The Fears” seems to target Buddhism rather than the derivative ideas developed by a respected but invisible man and practiced by a group. And the use of character quirks as punch lines is near cruel (especially since there were several victims of childhood sexual abuse), undermining the show’s emotional resonance.
