We Review: Seattle Rep's The Breach

It was our second play at the Rep in as many months, so we know: a gay character in a Seattle Rep performance this season has about the same odds at survival as a redshirt on an away team mission did in the original Star Trek. That is to say, he dies. Apparently that's how you illustrate "families being torn apart" or something these days.

The Breach tells the stories of a disparate group of people affected by Hurricane Katrina and the breaching of the levees in New Orleans, and tries none-too-subtly to get at how it affected us all. A family works out their issues while hiding on their rooftop from the rising water, an old alcoholic has his illusions shattered by the visions he sees during the flood and, in the most interesting--and, ultimately, most painfully-executed storyline--a cub reporter for the Nation tries to bridge the gap between white liberals and impoverished black America and fails by having the most literal conversation of all time with a black New Orleans resident. At times there are some interesting things going on on stage around these confused story lines with water splashing everywhere and some swimming, but generally an over-the-top theatricality steals the show away from the abundance of writers.

Here's a good game to play with your aisle mates before your next performance at the Rep: take a few minutes to study the bill and then have a pool on which character will turn out to be gay and how his gayness will bring about his demise. Novices might want to wait to collect votes at intermission, but you should be able to nail it before the curtain rises. Try it at The Breach through Feb. 9.