Ideation

Brought to New York by the San Francisco Playhouse, Ideation starts as a workplace dramedy set in the generic conference room of a nameless corporation. Hannah is trying to put her assistant Scooter in his place by making him prepare the room for the brain storming session, while the spoiled brat tries to play on equal terms with senior staff, Brock, Ted and Sander. Scoter ends up being fired despite the fact that he is the son of a member of the board of directors. 

photo Carol Rosegg

As the team starts working on their secret assignment, project Senna, we quickly realize that something is terribly wrong with these people and the job they are doing. They joke around discussing what the plural for “crematorium” would be while designing one for the disposal of one million dead bodies. And when Sandeep points out that this is unethical, Brock quotes his colleague from a different project: “Laugh about it, cry about it, the job is the job”. Ted supports this approach and wants to finish with the assignment in time so he can make it to his daughter’s soccer game. 

More and more details of the personal lives of these four come up as they continue working and start questioning the morality of what they are doing and if they should continue doing it due to the limited information they’ve been provided. Conspiracy theories start coming to play and mad graphs appear on the erasing board. Never has waiting until somebody stops writing seemed so suspenseful!

The time limit the team is given to complete the assignment (which equals the running time of the play) has the effect of a ticking bomb. The closer to the 00:00 mark, the wilder the theories, and the madder the participants become. The playwright Aaron Loeb gave us a broad spectrum of human behavior in a critical situation under time pressure.

Here is sensitive and uncompromising Sandeep (Jason Kapoor); here is a witty joker Brock (Mark Anderson Phillips) with his lively mimic and no shame for what he is doing and yet he spins down the funnel of paranoia the first. Than there is Ted (Michael Ray Wisely), a friendly and down-to-earth man who is constantly trying to reason with everybody but snaps pretty aggressively a few times; and then there is Hannah (Carrie Paff) struggling to stay calm. She is probably in the most vulnerable position because of the team leadership obligations and her office affaire.

Director Josh Costello did an excellent job by enriching this single set play with action. Initially consisting mostly of dialogues and writing on the erasing board, the play doesn’t seem stale at all. Actors move around the room organically, motivated by their tasks and emotions. The choreography of the scene of looking for bugs and essentially destroying the office is especially beautiful.     

The transformation from a team of confident professionals with their polished looks and sunglasses to a bunch of mad paranoids trapped in the messy conference room by their fear is remarkable. They show their human side, which is not always pretty but which also includes the option of questioning and doubt. Operating the familiar business ideas and terms like Tier I and II, Vision Holder and so on, characters of Ideation are desperately trying to make sense of it all until the god-like voice of the chief executive, J.D., is calls via Skype and it is time to make the presentation.