Hunter Gatherers reviews

Catastrophic Theatre's renewed production of last year's Hunter Gatherers is a welcome dose of humor to help get us through the long, hot days of summer ... Shelley Calene-Black and Troy Schulze give wonderful life to characters who could otherwise easily be crowded out by the wild plotting and ranting of the hunters (Greg Dean and Amy Bruce) ... Dean takes his role with visible caveman glee and Bruce, who was in last summer's run as well, knows exactly how to pull off her scheming dissatisfaction ... For a play that begins with the slaughtering of a baby lamb, you can guess it's got a lot to live up to, and it does. 

Through two couples' frank dialogue and ever-more-outrageous action, the play strips away the veneer of civilized behavior to reveal the beasts within ... Nodler balances the more "real" aspects with the outlandish ones ... Bringing deeper feeling to the quieter moments, he has increased a feeling that the characters and relationships are rooted in reality ... Though Hunter Gatherers may lose some of that "element of surprise" on a second encounter, it's still nervy and funny.