• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Event Calendar
    • Submit Event
  • About Us
    • Our Contributors
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Arts & Entertainment
    • Comedy
    • On Screen Dayton
    • On Screen Dayton Reviews
    • Road Trippin’
      • Cincinnati
      • Columbus
      • Indianapolis
    • Spectator Sports
    • Street-Level Art
    • Visual Arts
  • Dayton Dining
    • DMM’s Brunch Guide
    • Restaurants with Private Dining Rooms
    • Dayton Food Trucks
    • Quest
    • Ten Questions
  • Dayton Music
    • Music Calendar
  • On Stage Dayton
    • On Stage Dayton Reviews
  • Active Living
    • Canoeing/Kayaking
    • Cycling
    • Hiking/Backpacking
    • Runners
  • How to Support Dayton Businesses, Nonprofits During COVID-19

Dayton Most Metro

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

‘Bachelorette’ Review – Playground Theatre – Cruel Intentions

March 10, 2018 By Russell Florence, Jr.

Playground Theatre’s season finale revels in destructive excess and the ugliness of words as evidenced in its excellent production of Leslye Headland’s brutally dark and provocative comedy Bachelorette, continuing through March 11 in the Mathile Theatre of the Schuster Center.

Playground Theatre presents Leslye Headland’s dark comedy “Bachelorette” through March 11 in the Mathile Theatre of the Schuster Center. (Photo by Knack Creative)

Co-directed with captivating realism and savvy use of space by Jenna Valyn and A.J. Breslin, Bachelorette centers on a wild night reuniting Regan, Gena and Katie, high school friends living it up in a swanky Manhattan hotel suite overlooking Central Park. They’re in town for their mutual friend Becky’s wedding, but actually despise her. After all, Becky is getting married before them and at her current weight, fueling extreme jealousy, backbiting and body shaming. Whether or not this amusing clique can look past the past and simply evolve as mature, tolerant women is an underlying factor in the sitcom-esque action, which catapults into an evening of heavy drinking and vicious insults ultimately putting their friendship to the test.

Kaleigh-Brooke Dillingham (Regan), Mary “Alaska” Stoughton (Gena) and MacKenzie Aaryn Stephens (Katie) deliver bold, brave, physical, and heartbreaking performances. Dillingham, memorable in Playground’s local premieres of Really, Really and Reasons to Be Pretty, skillfully attacks with icy intimidation solidifying Regan’s status as the queen bee. She unleashes her stings with laser sharp precision as if at target practice while winningly revealing the layers within Regan’s emotionally wounded fragility, especially pertaining to her unhappy love life and addiction to prescription drugs. Stoughton, funny and unique, nicely balances Gena’s central responsibilities as sidekick and sister. In a complete departure, Stephens, previously seen in Wright State University’s productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Grapes of Wrath, approaches her comic relief with impressive abandon while vibrantly conveying how troubled Katie is beneath her giddy party girl exterior. Valyn delivers a brief yet powerful turn as Becky, orchestrating a terrific showdown with Dillingham that is the show’s pivotal centerpiece. Darren Lee Brown (Jeff) and Christopher Hahn (Joe) effectively intermix as confident if underwritten men on the prowl with varying objectives on the evening’s revelry from the bedroom to Motown.

Check out Bachelorette and see why Playground Theatre is Dayton’s foremost cutting edge theater company to have and to hold for many seasons to come.

Bachelorette continues today at 2 and 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm in the Mathile Theatre of the Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets, Dayton. The production runs 80 minutes without intermission. Tickets are $15-$20. For tickets, call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or visit www.ticketcenterstage.com. More information can be found at theplaygroundtheatre.org. You can also follow Playground’s Spotify playlist at pgdyt.org/bachelorette. The play contains adult themes, strong language, alcohol and drug use, sexual content, and nudity.

 

Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment, On Stage Dayton, On Stage Dayton Reviews, The Featured Articles

About Russell Florence, Jr.

Russell Florence, Jr. is a member of The American Theatre Critics Association and The Drama League. In addition to his role as arts and culture editor of Dayton City Paper and theater critic for Dayton City Paper and Impact Weekly, he served as a Dayton Daily News freelance writer and editorial page contributor. He has also written features for such theater publications as Spotlight Ohio and The Sondheim Review. Over the past 25 years, he has seen over 1,000 shows locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally encompassing New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Toronto, Madrid, and Rome among other destinations.


Comments

Comments

Primary Sidebar

Featured Events

  • Wed
    20
  • Thu
    21
  • Fri
    22
  • Sat
    23
  • Sun
    24
  • Mon
    25
  • Tue
    26

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Trivia w/ DagaTrivia

6:00 pm | Eudora Brewing Company

Wednesday Trivia

6:30 pm | Troll Pub at the Wheelhouse

Open Mic with Blues Breakdown Band

7:00 pm | Hank’s Local

Gem City Market Walking Warriors

7:00 pm | Gem City Market

Wednesday Night Trivia w/ Dan Profitt

7:00 pm | Oinkadoodlemoo & Brew

Marvel Cinematic Universe Trivia

7:00 pm | Toxic Brew Company

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Know Your Knots 101

6:00 pm | online

January Salon, Featuring Katie Clark Gabbard

6:00 pm | ZOOM

Jenna Drees Live Music in the Loft

7:00 pm | Moeller Brew Barn

Bingo

8:00 pm | Trolley Stop

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Tinned Gourmet Seafoods Tasting Event

5:00 pm | Salt Block Biscuit Company

Latin Dance Party

5:30 pm | The Salvation Army Kroc Center

Route 88

6:30 pm | Mr Boro’s Tavern

Clayton Anderson with Jacob William

7:00 pm | JD Legends Entertainment Complex

Music Bingo!

7:00 pm | Devil Wind Brewing

Derik Zoo

8:00 pm | Wiley’s Comedy Club

Cooking Class: Three Kings’ Day: A Puerto Rican Celebration

8:30 pm | DLM Culinary Center

RiverScape Virtual Winter Yoga

9:30 am |

Open Call for Models

2:00 pm | House of (DE-FI)ance: A Fashion & Design Co-working Experience

2nd Annual Ice Breaker Fest

4:00 pm | Fifth Street Brewpub

Ronald McDonald House Cooking Together

6:00 pm | your house

Dave’s & Confused

6:00 pm | The Phone Booth Lounge

DPAA presents Beethoven 8 and Florence Price

6:00 pm | Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

Live Music With Generations Band

6:30 pm | Sojourners Brewstillery

Until Rust & Friends

6:30 pm | Courtyard Lounge

Derik Zoo

7:15 pm | Wiley’s Comedy Club

DPAA presents Beethoven 8 and Florence Price

8:30 pm | Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Chili Fest

10:00 am | Findlay Market- Cincy

Rivers and Streams of the Miami Valley — and How Citizens can Make a Difference to Protect Them

2:30 pm | zoom

DLM Virtual Class! Sunday Supper Chicken & Dumplings

5:00 pm | ZOOM

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

25% off Pizza Monday

11:30 am | Oregon Express

Charucterie Class

6:00 pm | AR Workshop

Open Mic Monday

6:30 pm | The Barrel

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

Spaghetti Tuesday

5:00 pm | The Trolley Stop

Burger Night

5:00 pm | Watermark

Jazz with Gail and Larry

5:00 pm | Spirited Goat Coffee House

Tuesday Trivia

7:00 pm | The Dublin Pub

More Events…

DMM E-Newsletter


Give us your email address and we'll send you our DMM E-Newsletters
Email:  
For Email Marketing you can trust
Back to Top

Copyright © 2021 Dayton Most Metro · Terms & Conditions · Log in