2025 Audience Reviews

Company: angela olson
Show: Someone Always Pays
Venue: Barbara Barker Center for Dance

What happens when the past is the present

In a peculiar and airless diner(-esque?) setting, a person tasked with serving those who enter is standoffish at first, then gradually engages with a clueless visitor. The guest serves as an effective foil who learns along with the audience what traumas and patterns have brought the two parties together. The tension that’s established at the beginning propels the play into an unexpected and somehow inevitable conclusion. The play is a vulnerable offering punctuated by surreal moments, dark humor, and a healthy dose of winky self-awareness. Angela Olson gives a compelling performance while Jesse Mortenson is an effective, oblivious counterpoint to Olson’s intense and complex character. Lynchian moments in the piece call into question both the reliability of each characters’ perspective and the solidity of the world they’re inhabiting, while the traumas recounted by the lead keep the play grounded in the all-too-real experiences that many femme presenting people will be able to relate to. Note, I am a crew member for this production so consider my review a biased but genuine reflection of my experience. As my spouse and fellow crew member Robin has already stated, we talked about the piece long after it ended. The play has a strong point of view and the audience is left to come to their own conclusions as to what the production is condemning and endorsing, and I strongly recommend it if you’re looking for a unique point of view and a fresh angle from which to experience the narrative of one’s own past.