18 Holes

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

I’ve been on a gold course twice in my life. Once when I was 13, horseback riding with friends. One girl got off her horse, and dropped the reins. A train, blaring its whistle, whizzed by. Her horse, Dolly, took off jackrabbit style across a golf course. Concerned for her safety, I shot my Nifty horse into high gear. Scattered golfers immediately began yelling obscenities at the top of their lungs, swinging golf clubs high over their heads. What was wrong with them? Didn’t they care about Dolly? Not on your life. What they cared about was the greens getting torn up by racing hooves.

Jason Maxwell (Nate), L. Corwin Christie (Triona) and Benjamin T. Koucherik (Ivan) in NextStage's production of 18 Holes. Photo by Gene Kato

The second time, a friend in Ohio wanted to play a course somewhere In the middle of Ohio. While she played 9 holes, I had a blast with the cart snaking in and out of the rough, in and around trees, creating figure eights on the green.

As for golf itself, it never made sense, and it still doesn’t. When I first heard Gene Kato was writing a play entitled 18 Holes, I held my breath. A play on golf? How exciting could that be? Certainly Kato wasn’t going to write a dumb play on golf? Kato doesn’t know how to write a dumb play on anything.

How deliciously grateful I was to hear Lyle, the Greens Keeper, (Daniel Langhoff) admit in a slow, easy Texas drawl that golf was a dumb game. That the point of golf had nothing to do with a long stick, swinging at a small white ball, hoping by the grace of God and a wooden spoon it would eventually land in a small hole.

Directed by Jessica Clare, 18 Holes plays out with a cast of 14 on the stage of the Aurora Fox’s Studio Theatre magically transformed into a golf course. Lyle’s laid back, humorous, Texas type philosophical observations are sheer delight. He’s observant, honest (I bet Lyle wouldn’t yell obscenities at a 13 year old hell bent to capture a horse. Well, maybe.)

A sophisticated, sports country guy, Lyle never intended to stay. “The golf course is a breeding ground for pure human emotion, and doctors and lawyers solving the problems of the world. The Greens Keeper is like the guy who sweeps the stage in the theatre…Golf isn’t about winning and losing. It’s about conversation.”

Two guys and a boy appear at the second hole. Doug’s son, Arty, reveals with screwed up face; he’d rather be anywhere but there. “You’re yelling at me. Mom doesn’t yell when we’re having fun”. The words come slightly stilted for Joseph Johnson making his theatrical debut, as though he’s reaching for emotions eluding his experience. His lines tumble out too quickly, too sharply. To his credit, he does warm up to Arty, but it takes most of the show. Joey Santos, as Doug, reveals an agonizing pain that will take most of the 18 holes to decipher with his friend, Hal. Played by Robert Michael Sanders, Hal is out for a game of golf unaware of the uncomfortable position Doug and Arty inadvertently place him. The strain of the opening lines between father and son give away this moment on the greens. You know exactly where this conversation is going, and how it will end. Family problems besiege Doug. He takes frustration out on Artie. Hal gets caught in the middle. Explosive words shatter bird song. Somehow, magically, by the 18th Hole reconciliation begins to heal open wounds. Too much. Too soon. Too fast. It would be wondrous if such problems could be ironed out so neatly in 18 holes. This scenario could be tightened, and projected with more intrigue so it wasn’t so obvious where it was going and how it will end.

Four groups of golfers play through the Brazario Bend Golf Course on this particular day.

Daniel Langhoff in 18 Holes. Photo by Gene Kato

Following on the heels of Doug, Artie, and Hal, two guys, Nate, a jokester played by Jason Maxwell and Ivan (Benjamin T. Koucherik) are not so much out to play golf as to find the beer girl Nate spotted a week ago. Ivan’s bored. Still smarting over his girl leaving him a year ago, Ivan didn’t want to play today. Nate determined to pull his buddy out of the doldrums knows this mythical beer girl will spike his bruised ego. They engage in probing, prodding, joking. A little too much. There seems to be too many obvious jokes inserted into the script for the sake of the jokes. We know Nate’s misdirected heart is in the right place, but the too many jokes just seem to sit there on their own terms doing nothing, going no where grabbing for laughs. L. Corwin Christie adds a definite spark to the circumstance as Triona. She’s a beer girl all right. Not the one Nate has in mind, but her story definitely sparks attention.

An old man and an old woman wander onto the 4th Hole. Neither one is happy about being there. She calls him B. R. for Behr Rabbit “cuz you’re stuck in the tar, Baby.” Kerry Beebe is wonderful as Norma as Arthur Goodwin is as Erwin. This is a couple that has lived together many years, and is now bored. She wants spice. He wants peace. They know each other so well they don’t know each other at all. They remember, but their remembrance blinds their eyesight. They no longer can see what’s before them, only what isn’t. She taunts him, picks at him. He’s played golf for 45 years, and she treats him as though he’s just picked up a golf club for the first time, deliberately interrupting him at crucial moments. When he storms off the course, she muses over the Golden years, the empty nest, and the frustration of a relationship gone lonely. This scenario is undoubtedly the most gripping of the four. It strikes a bell of reality that many have heard rung several times over. One of Erwin’s gripping monologues was based on Kato’s grandfather. Truth, depth and humor play side by side as the state of affairs take an unexpected turn, reaching into the heart with warmth.

The fourth group of golfers are the Sunset Society all wearing bright orange hats. Sydney, wonderfully played by Robin Litt, a high school girl would rather not be caught dead wearing a dippy orange hat. Her mother, Hattie, chirps and nibbles constantly at Sydney. Rosey Waters plays Hattie well. This is a family including Hattie‘s sister, Yvonne, carefully and delectably played by Susannah Wellens. Aside from Sydney getting constantly nibbled at by Hattie, Yvonne seems to be a prime target. Something mysterious drives the four headed by Geraldine, the Grandmother strongly played by Sharon Kahn-Kahn. Bitterness clouds the family. Patrick Call as the Caddy distracts Sydney, giving Hattie a perfect opportunity to play out her jealous protectiveness toward her daughter, and providing frustration a reason to be. As balls eat up the holes, the reason for bitterness toward Yvonne unravels. Years of resentment, and misunderstanding melt slowly, but do melt into the turf.

The play follows each set of golfers alternately as they move up the green to the 18th Hole.

Biz Schaugaard transformed the stage into a golf course with physics presenting its own challenges. The hole representing all 18 holes had to be so constructed that when it calls for the characters to miss, they do. Likewise, when they need to sink the ball, they can without holding their breath or closing their eyes. Kato designed the sound and lighting. Prior to the play, birds can be heard chirping early morning songs. Every once in a while a bullfrog’s bass voice adds its own syncopated rhythm.

Kato drew from his experience on the golf course with his grandfather in the1970’s. He has beautifully tied the game to the struggles of humanity: some hits, some misses, Lyle ties it up at the end. “Golf is a mental game” and with an endearing laugh adds” it’s a stupid game, a stick, a ball, some grass and a hole. How hard can it be?”

Kato will have a winner on his hands with tightening some of the dialogue, and letting go of some of the unnecessary, silly, obvious jokes. The characters have their own humor, pathos, and dilemmas that easily stand on their own without padding. 18 Holes is not about golf. It’s a slice of humanity. Kato’s experience serves him well. Silly jokes aside, 18 Holes deserves attention.

18 Holes
World Premier
By Gene Kato; Directed by Jessica Clare