Some thoughts...

I have to admit, although I love going to any art performance, I don't get out to plays much. Sometimes the running time is short and I just can't make it out. Sometimes I feel the risk of seeing a bad play is too great. With the audience so close, the fourth wall can, at times, be so difficult for actors to create. And I've found that it's really hard to write a solid play, and really hard to find actors that are consistent and good. I haven't seen a production from Catastrophic since they were Infernal Bridegroom (Speeding Motorcycles). But I was thoroughly impressed with Hunters Gatherers. It was a kind of white heterosexual suburban party gone bad, like American Beauty on crack. I was most impressed with the level of acting and the evenness of the acting - they all held their own and as I thought I had a favorite character, that continued to change. I love when a cast can hold equal billing. Often with these kind of satires I am instantly ready to put up my fists and resist the humor, because it can come poorly earned, with racial and sexual biases. But I felt the humor was very well written - and created such an exaggerated farce out of the characters that the dysfunction of each character made clear that the humor was coming from their skewed perspective and not from the agenda of the writer. I also liked the ring effect created by the title - from beginning, middle and end it dealt with the idea of hunter/gatherer, and the dysfunction of sexual politics in white suburbian America. It made me think of a cheerleader and jock at a 30 high school reunion. The set was also great and the split scenes were very effective. Great job! It definitely made me interested in going back to CT productions more often.