Power

Overall Winner of Renegade N.O.W.

FULL LENGTH

On the surface, "Power" appears to be a simple locked-room drama. Tucker and Alice are throwing a dinner party. Tucker works for Dean and believes someone at the company is embezzling money. Tucker falls for Dean's wife, Betty. Dean and Tucker's wife, Alice, are having an affair. Everyone is caught....
Overall Winner of Renegade N.O.W.

FULL LENGTH

On the surface, "Power" appears to be a simple locked-room drama. Tucker and Alice are throwing a dinner party. Tucker works for Dean and believes someone at the company is embezzling money. Tucker falls for Dean's wife, Betty. Dean and Tucker's wife, Alice, are having an affair. Everyone is caught. Relationships fall apart. Dinner is a disaster.

But this play is not about the words.

This play is an exploration of status. "Power" is an ambiguous dialogue. Each night in front of the audience, the cast pulls their status relationships from a hat and must then leap immediately into the play. The entire show exists in the subtext and discoveries happening in real time based upon the luck of the draw. One night, an actor will be the most powerful person on stage, the next night, they will be the outcast. Every show is completely different from performance to performance. Dynamics are fluid, moments are discovered, and the result is a show which is immensely alive.

Power isn't about what is being said… it is about everything else.
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Power

Recommended by

  • John Busser:
    2 Jan. 2021
    This is an amazing play, both for what it says, but more importantly, what it doesn't say, or better yet, what the characters say to each other , not in words, but in deference or defiance to each other. Using an ever changing system of bestowing status above or below one another, the drama unfolds differently each performance. The words may be the same in most cases, but the body language, delivery and intent around those words mixes into an awkward stew of boiling tension. I was riveted from page 1. Spellbinding work.
  • Cheryl Bear:
    23 Aug. 2020
    An explosive and captivating play where things come to boiling relational expectations are confronted. Powerful and well done!
  • Maximillian Gill:
    25 Mar. 2020
    A truly fascinating play. Yes, it is about power but also about the many ways that power suppresses our basic humanity as we see characters straining at the structures that keep them in place. The dialogue deftly plays with the style of speech familiar to anyone who's ever seen a '60s-era television show, yet at the same time it cleverly subverts the tropes of the genre and comments on their absurdity. Danley augments the rich commentary of the play itself by incorporating chance and improvisation to highlight the preposterous nature of hierarchy. An incredibly thoughtful and emotive work.

Production History

  • Fringe
    ,
    Renegade Theater Festival
    ,
    2017

Awards

Winner
,
Overall Winner of Renegade N.O.W.
,
Renegade Theater Festival
,
2017