Dad's Porn Stash: The review from Shane Dallmann as I'm not going to review my own play.

Reposting from the Facebook Note Review of noted Video Watchdog reviewer Shane Dallmann. 

 The original link is here, I'm posting it on my own blog for posterity's sake. This is a review of the original show I've written.

 https://www.facebook.com/notes/shane-m-dallmann/review-dads-porn-stash-at-the-paper-wing-fremont/10152315605853319?ref=notif&notif_t=note_tag

February 7, 2014 at 11:06pm

While this isn't my first theatre review of the year, I feel that my traditional disclosure/disclaimer is especially appropriate in this case. Not only have I worked with most of the people involved in this production, I also happen to have known the playwright personally for numerous years. And now that I've said that? If you believe that I would give a false impression of a show I went and saw of my own free will; either to score "points" or to give an undeserved "boost" to a friend "just because," then please don't read my reviews. I'm driven to attend movies and live theatre, and I'm equally driven to write about what I watch; and to use a hackneyed phrase, I call them as I see them.

If you've decided to keep reading but still harbor doubts as to my unbiased integrity, I can only ask you to try and track down anyone else who attended the world premiere of "Dad's Porn Stash," the first staged play by local writer/actor Mark Cunningham (who does not appear in the show himself). Any and all of them can and will tell you about the loud, raucous laughter that echoed through the new Paper Wing Fremont theatre (the former home of the Stardust Playhouse) as the simultaneously outrageous and sincerely human story unfolded.

The story itself? Barbara Hanson (Taylor Noel Young) is days away from her wedding to fellow "geek" (comic books, martial arts films) Eric (Taylor Landess), to the combined delight and jealousy of her older sister Ellen (stage newcomer Courtney Haas-VanHorn). We join the sisters at such a time as they're still living with their respectable, church-going mother (Kate Faber), but when dear old Dad has passed away. With Barbara looking to start her new life, the sisters explore their attic in search of Dad's possessions... which should they keep for family memories, and which might be worth investing elsewhere? The comic books (one of the bonds Barbara had with her father) might be valuable... but what's THIS? A boxload of porn videos? Oh, Dad, how COULD you? Does MOM know about this? Wait a minute... you were IN these???!!!

The revelation of their father's past is more than enough to unsettle the sisters. And the newlywed-to-be, completely understandably, lets her fiance in on the secret. So the situation gets more and more... "weird." That word, coupled with a familiar expletive, is one you'd best get used to hearing. And justifiably so.

So you discover that your late father was a 70's porn star ("I did SOME stuff in the 80's...). Is he no longer your father? Is he now completely defined by what he did in the groove of the past? The sisters certainly seem to think so... and their complete and total re-evaluation of who their father was causes his porn persona "Brock Darling" (Michael T. Alliman) to take on a life of his own in the attic (it's telling that we never learn Dad's real name). And now that everybody knows that Brock existed? He's going to exert his influence over the entire family. As for Eric? He's the only character who never gets to meet Brock in the... er... flesh... but now that the secret is out, even he faces stiff (sorry) competition for Barbara's respect. Is Brock all there is now? Or is there any way to reclaim the memory of... Dad? One thing's for sure: once Brock runs interference on Barbara's own secret fantasy of battling a ninja assassin (Ari Reyes), something's got to give...

DAD'S PORN STASH (the title itself is an adult-film pun you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out--and if you do, picture Harry Reems ABOVE the waist) was directed by Paper Wing founder Koly McBride herself (with the redoubtable Jay DeVine handling tech) , and her casting leaves no room for error: Young's natural charm and dancing talents are equally well-deployed; Haas-VanHorn more than holds her own as the sister who has to come to terms with past and present with equally conflicted feelings, and Alliman is quite simply a riot as the archetype of the 70s adult-film arena (and this IS total-immersion theatre, so don't be surprised if Brock has a word or gesture for YOU in the process... I SCARCELY need mention that this show is intended for adult audiences in its own right). If you want dirty jokes, raunchy puns and racy gyrations, you'll get all of that from beginning to end... but this play has just the right amount of "something extra," because the question at its heart is a legitimate one and always was. So your father was a porn star. Is that ALL he was and all he ever will be? And if you disapprove of pornography, does that make the participants necessarily "bad?" In the end, this is still a show about people... and you're going to recognize each and every one of them.

DAD'S PORN STASH will play Fridays and Saturdays through March 8th. Visit www.paperwing.com for more information.