Straight Faced Lies. Photo courtesy Loretta Michael Productions/Capital Fringe

By DCist Contributor Missy Frederick

Things can’t get a whole lot worse for the Ryan family. Mom Cathy (Kim Tuvin) is a manipulator, son James (John Brougher) is weak and closeted; daughter Melissa (Rachel Manteuffel) has a secret pregnancy. And of course, Dad’s in prison, but he’s about to get out, and that’s the catalyst for bringing the estranged family together for Thanksgiving in Straight Faced Lies, written by Mark Jason Williams.

Each member of the family slowly makes his or her way to the dinner table (or at the very least, the home bar), along with some unexpected guests. These include family friend Kip (Sean McComas) who happens to be James’ lover, and Joe (Christian Sullivan), the guy who got Melissa pregnant and seems a lot more interested in the baby to come than she is. Events at the Ryan household get more and more dramatic (and sometimes, melodramatic) as the play progresses. The characters’ emotional reactions to major life events don’t always come across as entirely believable, and the theater-in-the-round setting proves to be a blocking challenge for director Ryan S. Taylor.

But Straight Faced Lies is boosted by some strong performances, particularly McComas’ sympathetic Kip and Jenny Donovan as Cathy’s sloshed sister Marie. Things end up somewhere bleak, but at least Williams has gotten the audience to care about the characters along the way.

Straight Faced Lies runs at the Logan Fringe Arts Space: Upstairs. Remaining performances are:
Tonight, July 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 19 at 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 26 at 12:15 p.m.

See here for more of DCist’s Fringe 2015 reviews.