'Damaged Furniture': A Dark Comedy Delight

Bruno Faria & Shane Tanner
Photo credit: Amy Pasquantonio

By GERRY BARKER
North Palm Beach Life

Keith Garsson, the director/producer of "Damaged Furniture," now playing at Boca Raton's Willow Theatre in Sugar Sands Park, said of the play: "We wanted a straight (and twisted) comedy that was fresh, 'now' and 'relevant'.” "Damaged Furniture" delivers on all counts.

Written by playwright Howie Skora, its 2018 debut in Los Angeles was met with critical accolades and award nominations. The intimate, 155-seat theater is a perfect size for enjoying this no holds barred window into a dysfunctional Brooklyn family.

“We are now back at the glorious Willow Theater in Sugar Sand Park where we started over twenty years ago as The Boca Raton Theater Guild,” said Garsson in a press release. “Although we have had several successful seasons elsewhere, we are happy to be returning to our original venue - and to our original mission - which was to produce shows on an a la carte basis rather than committing to a full season. This enables us to curate new work more finely.

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Bruno Faria & Valerie diLorenzo
Photo credit: Amy Pasquantonio

​As the play begins, we soon learn Doug (Bruno Faria, a graduate of Florida Atlantic University) -- an aspiring actor who has enjoyed some notoriety onscreen as an hermaphrodite action hero -- is pulled back into his family's furniture business in Bensonhurst when his uncle dies suddenly in an accident involving a sex fetish and a Versace lounge chair. And we're off.

He finds Aunt Laurie (Valerie diLorenzo, a veteran of some 50 musicals) trying to make sense of it all, and sister Gina (Sharon Pfeiffer, also a stand-up comedian) a therapist whose brother-sister conflicts warrant some therapy of its own. Much of the action in this 90-minute production centers around Doug's unresolved issues with his alcoholic father (Shane Tanner, a Florida theater veteran) and "Happy Face" mother (Liz DeBeer, who does choreography as well as acting). 

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Sharon Pfeiffer
Photo credit: Amy Pasquantonio

Doug wrestles with pursuing an acting career versus a son's duty to keep a family furniture business afloat, while at the same time looking to make peace with a father whose health is failing. Meanwhile, Doug's agent (Susan Lloyd, making her Boca Stage debut) fuels the fire with offers of a starring role on Hulu.

While this comedy is dark, and has plenty of salty, R-rated dialogue (would you expect anything else from New Yorkers?), it hits at the heart of problems that affect so many families, albeit often in over-the-top fashion. Under Garsson's deft direction, the actors do a masterful  job of bringing these damaged characters to life, with a special tip of the hat to that Versace chair. After seeing "Damaged Furniture," you'll never look at your Barcalounger the same.

Tickets for "Damaged Furniture," which runs through March 15,  are on sale now and can be purchased online at https://www.myboca.us/2649/Damaged-Furniture or by phone at 561-347-3948.

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Bruno Faria & Liz DeBeer (Photo credit: Amy Pasquantonio)