When did it become cool to be a Star Trek fan? That was certainly not the case when I was in high school, way back in the analog days of the early ’90s. At some point during my adulthood, “geek” became the new black, leaving me wondering how different things would be if I had come of age in the digital era. Naval-gazing aside, one upside to this societal shift is that the things I harbored a not-so-secret obsession with during my pimpled years are becoming more ubiquitous, as exhibited in classiqueNOUVEAU‘s Who Killed Captain Kirk?, an entertaining production now running as part of the Capital Fringe Festival.
Written by Paco José Madden and directed by Augustus Heagerty, the play is literally a mashup between an episode of the original series and a Clue-esque comedic whodunit. Set at a Star Trek convention, we meet a motley crew, each of whom has adopted the persona of a classic character. Among them are a female Spock (Mundy Spears), an African-American woman (Jasmin Johnson) as Captain Kirk and, of course, the transgendered Latina Uhura, who is with her husband, Sulu. William Shatner is making his final convention appearance before retiring to a remote island. But lo — he is murdered! Everyone is a suspect. Hilarity ensues. Dropping clues all the while, the play ends with the audience acting as the jury to determine the guilty party.
Though some jokes fell flat, the show is funny — moreso if you understand all the Trek references. In a hat-tip to the series, the script is peppered with preachy monologues, with topics ranging from gay marriage to the evils of Wall Street. Like in the series, they don’t really work (I always thought Picard could pull off the morality tale, while Kirk could not). But if there is one reason to go see the play, it is Jon Odom’s Uhura. The most memorable character I have seen in four years of covering Fringe shows, it is undoubtedly going to be one of the most talked about performances of this year’s festival.
Who Killed Captain Kirk? has four remaining performances on July 16, 17, 20 and 22. Ticket and schedule information is available here.
