Sometime in the future, the enemies of America will unleash a barrage of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons upon the populace. Who will survive? What will remain? These are some of the questions lurking at the heart of Chuck Rose’s apocalyptic drama; neither is persuasively explored or addressed. Three hundred feet underground, a luxury bunker — one of many — has been constructed to protect people of importance. Not just government types, but a married couple (Jade Sealey; Tony Pasqualini), a journalist (Cameron Meyer), a young man (John Kassir) and Norman Biederman (Ronald Hunter). Then there are two shadowy figures, Monroe and Dewitt (Tom Groenwald; Jordan Lund), employees of a sinister government agency whose sole purpose is to keep these survivors happy, fed and clueless about what is really happening, aided by intrusive news broadcasts. This premise is as clueless as most of the characters. Most of what we witness is secondhand intrigue, lots of shouting, fighting and a dash of the salacious. Trapped in their comfortable confines, the survivors start to rebel, which ultimately dovetails into a preposterous finale. Rose’s dialogue is awkward (and in many instances, unintelligible), the plot, as thin as rice paper, depends entirely on the melodrama, and with the play’s static nature, you might feel some numbness expanding from your limbs across your torso as the production wears on. Kappy Kilburn directs.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: May 3. Continues through May 31, 2008

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