(W)hole

Carolyn Valentine as Ames E. Tyler Photography

Paragon Theatre's world premiere of Tracy Shaffer's (W)hole drums up seduction and deception in a steady beat the likes of which we haven't felt since Closer and Fool for Love. It's drama around a ménage à trois with a quatre in the wings. The story's pulse steadily elevates toward an emotional blood-letting despite a few loose ends that, when tidied up, could bring wider distribution and even big screen interest.

Lucianne Lajoie as Carla E. Tyler Photography

Ames (Carolyn Valentine) is name artist whose career and marriage has stalled. She's working on some pieces that her husband, a gallery owner, wants to market. The buzzer sounds in her loft studio and in walks Carla (Lucianne Lajoie), a lascivious model—in response to an ad—and Ames' life carooms out of control, with only Hart (John Hoff), a telegenic meteorologist, as a safety net.

Hart is a genuinely nice guy who provides a sense of normalcy in the midst of chaos. Hoff's geniality shines through in the role, though we wish for some script wrinkle that would raise his dramatic stake.

John Hoff as Hart and Carolyn Valentine as Ames E. Tyler Photography

The wildcard in these relationships is Carla, who uses money and luxury items as a measurement of who is winning at life and love. Lajoie serves up animal magnetism with the best of them, leaving no question in our minds and hearts what Hart and Ames find so compelling in her. The semi-nude scenes, as Carla poses for Ames, become the subtext for gut-level entrapment. Behind the lure of the flesh, you can see the wheels turning in Lajoie's portrayal.

As hot as Carla is, Ames runs cool. Since her early career success, the business of art has jaded her; that, and her husband Jacque's inattentiveness. Yet she is in denial over this, until she begins to crack under Carla's pressure. Valentine's Ames does cynical Manhattan sophisticate with ease, but the passions that are awakened by Carla and Hart are somewhat muted.

(L to R) Lucianne Lajoie as Carla, Carolyn Valentine as Ames, and John Hoff as Hart E. Tyler Photography

Perhaps this issue is tied to the dramatic arc. The sexual connections between the characters fuels a visceral compulsion, so the soft landing in the final scene feels anticlimactic. The transaction that takes place—meant to reverse the predatory personal and financial trangressions experienced by Ames—feels unfinished. The scene is Ames' opportunity to use her newly awakened passions to reassert her needs. It calls for a more painful result in Carla's world.

Paragon Theatre's world premiere of Tracy Shaffer's (W)hole runs through November 20th. www.paragontheatre.org or 303-300-2210.

Bob Bows