And you thought your family was bizarre!!!
"Dickhead" by Gil Kofman, directed by Richard Caliban

"Dickhead"
Sept. 26-Oct. 13, 2024
Presented by Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave.
Info/tix www.theaterforthenewcity.net
Reviewed by Paul Berss September 29

In his kooky, spooky new play "Dickhead," Gil Kofman introduces an ensemble of characters who have a few toes in reality and the rest of them out there in fantasyland.  Though I found the play hard to follow from time to time, its unpredictability and offbeat characters had me always engaged and entertained.

Dr. Adams (Frank Licato) and Dick (Ezra Barnes) are in therapy. Photo by Francis Krow.

Ezra Barnes gives an outstanding performance as the lawyer Dick, the main character and inspiration for the show's title.   Critical and negative about just about everything, he complains about his unhappy marriage, and the fact that he has staked his future on Bitcoin, but can't remember the password that would allow him to cash in on the fortune that Bitcoin has made.   As a fan of Hemingway's books, one of his strategies to find his password is to re-read all of Hemingway's books in the hopes of finding a clue.   By the time the password comes back to him, having nothing to do with Hemingway, Bitcoin has crashed and is worthless.

Jodie Markell gives a sweet, sympathetic performance as Dick's suffering wife Ruth, who reveals to their son that he was conceived in an airplane lavatory when his parents, who were strangers upon boarding the plane, took a shine to one another and joined the Mile High Club during the flight.   Ruth, who comes into her own in the second act, has a lottery ticket with three winning numbers.  Despite the fact that she hasn't scratched out the rest of the numbers, there is no doubt in her mind that it's a winning ticket!  She lets her son scratch out number 4, which is also a winner.  Though four out of six numbers does not a lottery winner make, Ruth is certain that she has all the right numbers. 

Richard (Ezra Barnes) takes his grandson Junior (Wyatt Fenner) hunting and tells him a scary story. Photo by Francis Krow.

Their son Bobby (played by Glen Feinstein), his wife Darcy (Kai An Chee) and their young son Junior (played by a strapping adult Wyatt Fenner) are temporarily staying with their parents.  Bobby is another dreamer, an unsuccessful playwright who doesn't work and is always waiting for his big break.  Darcy is a kook, giving exercise classes on OnlyFans to make a living, and Junior is addicted to playing games on his computer, though when he does talk, he is often quite poetic and makes more sense than one would expect.

Others in the cast give the family a run for their money.  Dick's psychiatrist Dr. Adams (Frank Licato), in an effort to help Dick, reads Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and commits suicide in the process.  Dick attends his funeral and chats with the widow Adams, tastefully turned out in a green dress and pearls, in a droll performance by Licato.

Richard (Ezra Barnes) is taking Howard (Chuck Montgomery) to dinner to thank him for helping him find a job at his firm. Photo by Francis Krow.

The final character is Howard, Dick's friend played by Chuck Montgomery.  Howard has rewarded Dick with a gift of Bitcoin for getting him a job and cryptocurrency speculation has driven the value of Bitcoin sky-high. But Dick can't cash in, having forgotten the password to his Bitcoin account. Relying on his experience as an interrogtor at Guantanimo, Howard agrees to torture Dick in an act of friendship, hoping to unlock the memory of this password.  Howard also turns out to be an over zealous OnlyFans client of Darcy's, and attacks her in their home, only to be shot by Junior.

In the end, Dick's family leaves, including his wife, Ruth, leaving him in a catatonic state.  We don't assume that anyone has changed or learned anything.  Dick seems to speak for everyone when his last line is "why try to change me now"?

Darcy (Kai An Chee) on her OnlyFans Site. Photo by Francis Krow.

Playwright Gil Kofman and director Richard Caliban assembled a fine cast, and the show moved along at a brisk pace.  I relished the rythms in the writing. I also enjoyed the music between scenes and the projections of backgrounds to show where the action was taking place.   I felt that the plot was unnecessarily complicated by the subplot with Howard, though he was well played by Chuck Montgomery. Is there a moral to "Dickhead," or a lesson to be learned?   The play may have been guided by the family's involvement with cyber-stuff, but I'm afraid that aspect made no impression on me.   I simply enjoyed the writing and the characters - interesting, complex, and well-played, floating around in their own dream worlds.