Dead Man's Cell Phone

Description
What will it take for the American theater to realize the playwright has no clothes? Sarah Ruhl's latest feels like a toss-off, a writing exercise a playwright might have worked on between real plays. Jean, an apparent social misfit, answers the incessantly ringing cell phone of a man who has quietly died at the café table next to hers; thanks to her impulse to comfort his loved ones, she insinuates herself into their lives. While some parts of Jessica Thebus's staging provoke, the endeavor is hampered by Polly Noonan's off-kilter, out-of-place performance as Jean. If there's anything to be enjoyed in Ruhl's paper-thin, aggressive whimsy and wordplay, Noonan renders it in invisible ink.—Kris Vire