‘Chow’
ignites with humor, delves into family issues
By Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
 Stuck
inside a gadget-filled room for weeks, Jennifer
Marcus (Melody Butiu) dreams of a better
life outside her suburban home outside of
Calabasas, Calif. She suffers agoraphobia,
and admits in her diary to having obsessive
compulsive disorder, along with other issues
in her life in Rolin Jones’ “The Intelligent
Design of Jennny Chow,” directed by David
Chambers.
Mr. Marcus, played delightfully by William
Francis McGuire, is Jennifer’s foster dad
who tries to console with his daughter on
relationships, and getting along with his
business frenzied wife Adele Hartwick (Linda
Gehringer). Jennifer and Adele get into
constant arguments about taking out the
garbage, getting a job and spending too
much time on the Internet. As a Chinese-American,
Jennifer has aspirations to meet up with
her biological mother. One day, Jennifer
gets sick of hearing about her stepmother’s
nagging, and sets out on a mission to find
her foster parents.
She receives help from her Mormon friend
Terrance (JD Cullum), who is doing mission
work in Shanghai. From an Internet booth,
Terrance types the whereabouts of her biological
mother. Jennifer conjures a plan to make
contact with her biological family, by creating
a robot titled Jenny Chow (April Hong),
and fly her from the suburbs to China.
Many themes were underlined in “Jenny Chow,”
creating believable characters and an even
more believable scene of Southern California
suburbia. Along with the robot and the family
the cast includes Jennifer’s friend Todd
(Daniel Blinkoff), a stereotypical surfer
who has an acute crush on the gifted robot
builder.
The play was performed in a contemporary
fashion, which included loads of profanity,
plenty of yelling and a slight piece of
nudity. Cullum portrayed not only a Mormon,
but Preston, a Georgian technician, Col.
Hubbard from Washington D.C. and the zany
Dr. Yakunin, a professor who helps Jennifer
get the parts she needs to create the robot.
Each character provided a huge amount of
laughter as Cullum nailed the accents and
gestures.
Buitu’s performance was dynamic. As she
paced heavily on stage reciting numerous
lines, Buitu brought the character of Jennifer
Marcus alive, grabbing the audience’s attention
from start to finish.
Gehringer’s portrayal of Adele Hartwick
was astonishing, as her voice tones and
mannerisms captured the image of a suburban
workaholic mom. The frustrations and desires
that Adele expresses in trying to connect
with her daughter are exuded fiercely through
her acting ability.
Although the play expressed themes of family
relationships, fears, hopes and anxieties
with technology, the use of profanity could
have been toned down a little so that the
play could be compatible with a more diverse
crowd.
Jones’ play is an emotionally comedic piece
which explores heavy issues of family and
identity. It is a fresh contemporary play
filled with characters that audiences can
relate to.
“The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow” will
run until May 18 at the Julianne Argyros
Stage.
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