Triple Vision: A Lightning-Quick Comedy of Self-Discovery
REVIEW by ANTHONY CHASE
In her brisk new comedy "The Day I Learned to Fly,” playwright Wendy-Marie Martin takes two common metaphors, flight and being struck by lightning, and makes them literal. The result is a whimsical exploration that operates both as psychological character study and as a magical realist fantasy.
Here we meet Hattie. From the opening moments of the play, we learn that she struggles with feelings of inadequacy, unable even to settle on a title for her own story. Her relationship with her mother, a commanding presence in community theater, has shaped this insecurity. Mom both enjoys having a daughter who is easy to control, and wishes the young woman would show more gumption.
The inciting incident -- Hattie being struck by lightning while walking her dog on New Year's Eve -- transforms this internal conflict into external drama. Martin structures the aftermath of the dramatic lightning strike through three distinct versions of Hattie, each representing a different aspect of her psyche. Hattie is the Ego; Super Hattie is the Id; and Fragment is the Super-Ego of Hattie's fractured post-lightning strike identity.
The production brings together both established Buffalo performers and promising newcomers in a fast-paced ensemble piece that is propelled by quick-fire interactions.
Heather Casseri, one of Buffalo's most reliable leading ladies, plays what we might call the "real" Hattie, the rational core self, trying desperately to make sense of her experience while mediating between her warring aspects.
Kaylie Horowitz, a First-Look favorite, steals scenes as the irrepressible Super Hattie, the unleashed id who revels in her supposed new powers and celebrity status with hilariously misplaced confidence. The performance is highlighted by an absurd caped superhero costume.
Sandra Roberts, a skilled actor and improviser who has become increasingly prominent on Buffalo's stages, rounds out the trio as Fragment, whose attempts to impose scientific logic on the increasingly absurd situation provide a steady stream of laughs. Roberts, who has done heavy doses of Shakespeare and played an indefatigable would-be mother in BUA's "I F***ed You On My Spaceship," as well as roles in Navigators at Alleyway, The Convent and Hamlet with Brazen-faced Varlets, brings her considerable range to this hyper-rational voice of scientific skepticism.
The supporting cast demonstrates First Look's penchant for introducing new talent to Buffalo audiences. Akshat Sharma plays Hero, the man who rescued Hattie by administering CPR and summoning help. Hailing most recently from Boston (and Wisconsin before that), Sharma is new to Buffalo and by day works as an immunologist at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He was clearly cast for his notable good looks, coupled with an insouciant Steve Gutenberg bit of comic whimsy.
Emrald Ja'ceil plays the doctor with no-nonsense clarity, with just enough comic sarcasm to make us welcome her every entrance.
Anne DeFazio, a comic actor of remarkable talent and range who has been a standout at Starring Buffalo, MusicalFare, O'Connell & Company, Second Generation, and other theaters, brings depth to the role of Hattie's mother, seeming to check that box for attractive woman of a certain age while showing us both the controlling behavior and genuine concern that motivate her character.
The production's design elements work in concert to create both the realistic and fantastical worlds of the play. Sarah Waechter's scenic design takes what could have been a limitation -- the undefined expanse of the Canterbury Woods stage, which is really more of a concert venue -- and turns it into an asset. This vast depth becomes a physical representation of Hattie's uncertain mental landscape, a distance into which characters can recede and appear. Minimal set pieces are placed against the infinite depth while projection designer Roberto DiDonato, brought in as a last-minute replacement from Dallas, creates visual transitions that help us track the shifting reality levels of the story while emphasizing visual themes, lightning and fragmentation in particular. Suellen Coelho's costumes bridge both worlds masterfully, from Super Hattie's absurdly perfect superhero cape to subtle touches that underscore each character's place in the story's psychological landscape, and including Anne DeFazio's appearance as Hattie's air-headed dog, a well-intentioned effort on Mom's part to replace the dog that got exploded by lightning.
Moving in quick comedic episodes, Martin's script artfully leads us to question the reliability of what we're seeing. The three Hatties squabble constantly, with Super Hattie's rude demeanor and unreasonable refusal to listen to reason providing much of the comedy. When Hero comes to pay a visit, Super Hattie claims to read his mind, revealing his sexual attraction to Hattie's mother. Hero runs off on a date with Mom, who gleefully dons red lipstick and four-inch high-heels, while the other aspects of Hattie look on in horror and denial. The other Hatties insist this scene could never have happened, and their skepticism quickly extends to doubt over all of Super Hattie's claimed powers, including her ability to fly, and in the minds of the audience, whether Hattie has literally been struck by lightning at all.
In literature, "flying" typically represents freedom, transcendence, success, or escape from earthly constraints. Being "struck by lightning" often symbolizes divine intervention, sudden realization, love at first sight, or sudden transformation. Rather than simply employ these ideas as literary devices, Martin makes them literal plot points, then gradually leads us to question this reality. This questioning mirrors Hattie's own journey toward self-understanding.
Are we watching a superhero origin story, or are we witnessing someone processing trauma through fantasy? Gradually, we begin to understand that it is the latter.
The play suggests that trauma -- whether from a literal lightning strike or from years of accumulated emotional damage -- can fracture our sense of self. Through Hattie's three aspects, we see different possible responses to this fracturing: denial, grandiose fantasy, and obsessive analysis. The drama comes from watching these parts of Hattie gradually work toward integration.
First Look Buffalo, true to its mission of developing new works, has given Martin's witty play room to spread its wings. Director Jason Francey has kept the production’s focus on the human story at its core, while matching the story's lightning-strike premise with appropriately fast pacing. While Hattie may never quite master actual flight, watching her attempted takeoffs and crash landings provides both laughs and heart in equal measure, and the question of whether Hattie can literally fly becomes less important than whether she can metaphorically soar—that is, whether she can overcome her self-doubt and find her own path.
"The Day I Learned to Fly" continues its run at the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center as part of First Look Buffalo's 2024-25 season through February 9th, 2025. Fridays and Saturdays 7:30pm. Sundays 2pm at the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center, 705 Renaissance Dr., Williamsville NY 14221
Tickets are $30 general and $20 student/senior. Get tickets at www.FirstLookBuffalo.com or at the door. For more information call 716-771-6358 or email FirstLookBuffalo@gmail.com.
