Slowgirl

A unique family portrait is being drawn in Slowgirl, Greg Pierce’s play currently in performances at the Claire Tow Theater, the latest addition to Lincoln Center’s performance spaces. The Claire Tow is located on top of the Vivian Beaumont but Slowgirl takes place south of the Equator in Costa Rica, where Becky (Sarah Steele), a teenager from Massachusetts, pays a visit to her Uncle Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) who lives in solitude in the jungle.Sterling’s quiet life is quickly disrupted by Becky’s arrival as she wakes him from napping in his hammock and begins peppering him with questions about his life and why he prefers isolation to company. Becky, who, frequently states, is the “most outgoing” person in her school, is quite a chatterbox and seemingly bewilders Sterling with her nonstop dialogue and inquiries into his life. As he awkwardly embraces her, it is clear Sterling is happy to see Becky, but he is also a bit frightened by her presence in his quiet home. The sets, which invoke a warm and beautiful far-off place, are by Rachel Hauck, with lighting by Japhy Weideman.Performed by Steele, an extremely talented young actress, Becky is a typical teenager, both worldly and wise but also naive and unprepared for life beyond high school. Her visit to Sterling was provoked by burgeoning trouble at home - a party thrown by one of her friends that turned into a tragedy - and as the play progresses, so does her ability to tell the truth. When a friend’s parents were out of town and an older brother supplied the vodka, what was intended to be a friendly joke involving a classmate with a learning disability (hence the cruel nickname “Slowgirl”) resulted in unintended violence and Becky’s visit to Sterling is meant to provide an escape from suspension and police questioning.There is more to Becky’s story than she first admits, and it is clear her compulsive chatter is driven by fear and anxiety about her future rather than just her “outgoing” personality. Steele expertly delivers Becky’s lines as a present-day teenager, swearing excessively, punctuating almost every other word with “like” and speaking in an overly ironic and questioning manner. After opening up to Sterling, she awkwardly adds, “Now you probably think I’m, like, a total unabomber,” and she almost stops the show when she scornfully refers to a “geriatric guy who was buying, like, 90 vegetables” holding up a line at the grocery store.The role of Sterling provides less comic relief but Ivanek gives an excellent performance as the withdrawn, kind-hearted uncle who seemingly has forgotten how to communicate until Becky’s visit rekindles his connections with his family and his past. Ivanek has a remarkably expressive face that communicates in a way he is unable to verbally in response to Becky’s incessant talking. One of the more touching scenes between the two takes place at night, when Sterling is in his bedroom with the door shut and Becky continues to talk to him, her voice carrying through the wall. The two share laughter over an amusing memory of Sterling and Becky’s mother - the only time Sterling really laughs during the show. It is revealing that Sterling communicates the most in the dark, when he cannot see Becky.Directed by Anne Kauffman, Slowgirl progresses steadily to Becky’s confession of what actually happened at the party and Steele gives an impressive performance of Becky’s emotional breakdown, depicting both her crippling sadness and paralyzing fear of what lies ahead of her when she returns to the United States. While Becky’s potential imprisonment brings an end to Sterling’s self-imposed exile, Slowgirl offers a cautiously hopeful portrait of one tragedy within a family could potentially bring another tragedy to a close. It also offers some disturbing insight into the culture teenagers live in, filled with drinking, drugs and sex, as well as teen bullying and how easily what appeared to be an innocent prank could go horribly wrong. And thanks to Steele and Ivanek’s excellent performances, this portrait is both a heartfelt and honest one.