REVIEW: 'We’ll Get Back to You’ gets to the heart of breaking emotional barriers

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Broadway director from New York and a New York Times bestselling author from California met in the middle, and magic has exploded all over Mirrorbox Theatre in Cedar Rapids.

“We’ll Get Back to You” is making its world premiere in the little theater that could, and the show is astounding. It’s must-see theater and you have until April 28 to go.

Every aspect of the production is brilliant. Rob Bell’s script is brilliant, with turns of phrase that will turn your head until it spins. Kristin Hanggi’s direction also is brilliant, working with the Corridor’s elite actors, designers and technicians to magnify all the subtle nuances tucked around every corner.

And once again, producers Christopher Okiishi and Patrick Du Laney of Iowa City’s Crooked Path Theatre Company have done what they do best, in pulling everyone together. The third producer, Cavan Hallman, Mirrorbox Theatre’s founding artistic director, has provided the perfect, intimate space in which to let actors and audience members immerse themselves in every aspect of the environment.

Mirrorbox typically produces Iowa premieres of new works. This play kicks that up a few giant notches.

Plot points

So, what’s it all about? That’s part of the journey of discovery that had Thursday’s opening audience members howling with laughter, gasping with recognized heartache and breaking into spontaneous combustions of applause throughout.

Jessica Link, a rock-solid, cerebral actor, anchors the show in a way that throws everyone off kilter. She is Viva, a flaky character who peels back so many layers when on a whim she interviews for a job with a company she knows nothing about.

In need of money, she decides to go for a drive, letting her heart lead her as she looks for a sign. The stars align when she spies a sign that reads: “If you’re here for an interview please check in at the front desk.” So she does.

What follows is 90 minutes of a nightmare interview that plays out like a dream. Five employees at various levels, from supervisors to company cogs, will pepper her with questions she never really answers.

Instead, she turns the questions back onto them, breaking boundaries in enticing, confusing, confounding ways until they find common ground in uncommon ways. It’s all about connecting with communities onstage and in the audience.

Connie McDoogagin (Caroline Price), the department head for employee relations, is wound so tightly she could burst right out of her perfectly tailored suit. Price is at her best when Connie is at her worst, completely flummoxed by Viva’s answers and attitude.

Todd Klosser (Okiishi), a financial fish out of water, is flopping around on dry ground as the “temporary interdepartmental liaison with Human Resources.” Filled with anxiety, he’s prone to Red Bull-fueled outbursts. Okiishi’s physical humor is a thing of beauty, as he vogues his way through rote statements with hilarious, mechanical hand gestures. His exits are epic, as well, backing his way out of the room with a metaphoric mic drop.

Claude Horst (Ron Clark), a “heritage” employee, shuffles through his questions with slumped shoulders and ennui. But he still has a spark just waiting to be lit. Viva will be the one to bring him out of his darkness, and his transformation is gleeful.

Larger-than-life Glenn Stevens (Aaron Pozdol) bursts onto the scene as the client interface strategy director, which is an ego-inflated term for “customer service director.” Pozdol is another one of those actors who owns every inch of the space he’s given and taken.

And Saffron Henke. Corridor audiences who have been delighting in her shape-shifting ways will see her in a new light as Kosa. Akin to an otherworldly robot, Kosa administers a personality test in which Viva is tasked with choosing one of two items among increasingly bizarre, totally unrelated sets carefully placed in front of her.

With dark pigtails, dress and shoes channeling quirky Abby from “NCIS,” free-spirited Kosa seems to have the most in common with Viva. Or does she?

Complex, yet sterile scenery evokes a techno feel, as do the music and videos playing on multiple screens — enhanced by mood-altering lighting and colorful, creeping projections. All of which show that a big visual and sensory impact can be created in a small space seating just 99 viewers.

Talkbacks

Throughout the opening weekend, audiences are invited to stay for a conversation with the playwright and director. This is a rare opportunity to see and hear how they tick, and Thursday night, both were generous with not only their answers, but their praise for the caliber of talent beating through the Heartland.

Bell, a veteran author who still feels new to the script-writing realm, has been relishing all the discoveries of turning this play over to the cast and crew, “to fully release it energetically, trusting that they will find a whole world of depth and dimension in it that I never could have imagined.”

“There are many challenges in the process,” Hanggi added. “The people here are incredible. This is one of the best processes I’ve ever had. This cast — every day was joy. We had so much fun. It felt so nurturing and beautiful and safe and funny. …

“This has been justifying from beginning to end. It’s been a really wonderful process,” she said. “So I feel like now, the next challenge is getting people in, to come see this play that we have created.”

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