In ‘Dog Mom,’ howling laughs support a story of opening up to love
This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Like the phrase “dog mom” itself, Tate Elizabeth Hanyok’s play by the same name reflects a truth so deeply felt that we are more comfortable disguising it as a joke. And here’s the truth behind the joke: Dogs offer us the unreserved companionship we crave but don’t always allow into our lives. Hanyok’s play, onstage at Horizon Theatre through April 19, celebrates the fact that accepting one’s status as a “dog mom” is a way of accepting love from unforeseen places.
This is the case for main character Liz (Marcie Millard), whose recent divorce brings her from New Jersey to Brooklyn, as well as to a new life and fresh start including a stray dog (Megan Hayes). Millard and Hayes anchor the play in their affectionate relationship. Clad in yellow overalls and with hair teased up into “ears,” Hayes’ golden retriever energy animates the performance from her first moment onstage. Her eager expressions, often complemented by random objects in her mouth, quickly endear her to an uneasy Liz and to the audience.
To be clear, humans playing dogs is very, very funny. The actors’ canine antics as they portray activities familiar to pet parents everywhere — the frenzied pursuit of a toy, the panged expression while doing its business — become uproarious in the hands of Horizon’s talented cast. Director Heidi McKerley has accomplished what is probably the most challenging aspect of staging a play in which several key characters are pooches — that is, animals and humans alike consistently surprise and delight the audience.
That said, a tight ensemble of other characters, human and otherwise, weave into Liz and her dog’s story. Nosy neighbor Nell (brilliant Horizon newcomer Arizsia Staton), accompanied by her husky, Reuben (the exceptionally hilarious Enoch King), challenges Liz to accept human companionship. Liz, of course, will need to be “trained” by her own dog first.
The play reaches beyond the pablum of “she rescued me” sentimentality, though, when Nell — gliding expertly between physical comedy and profundity — articulates what her canine companion means to her as a woman and as a mother. “In this relationship, I’m the alpha,” she intones. As the play complicates, and the realities of fostering and pet adoption accrue, it develops a theme of understanding our relationships with dogs not as substitutes for children or partners but as meaningful experiences of connection in their own right.
Horizon’s regional premiere of “Dog Mom” is one of several in cities around the country this season, as companies participate in the National New Play Network’s Rolling World Premiere program. It’s a crowd-pleasing choice for an evening out because the play invites the audience to reflect on our own relationships with dogs and the unguarded love they bring into our lives.
The theater emphasizes that aspect by asking audiences to share their own dogs’ names on a board in the lobby, bringing a bit of dearness into the theater and inviting discussion about our pets even if actual dogs aren’t allowed at the performance. (That’s a shame because Hayes and King portray their canine roles so skillfully that it’s hard not to have a furry friend nearby to scratch behind the ears.)
The difficulty of advancing a relationship between two characters when one of them cannot talk would be substantial, especially since Hanyok’s script only minimally accounts for how and why Liz seems to be able to speak with and understand her dog. But McKerley’s intelligent staging resolves the potential issues, and designer Amanda Edgerton West’s costumes cleverly toe the line between human clothing and furry cosplay — a real feat considering just how physical the dogs’ performances are.
Paul Glaze’s piano-heavy sound design and Mary Parker’s lighting conjure up a picturesque corner of the city, while Isabel Curley-Clay and Moriah Curley-Clay’s set design, plastered with New York City parks signage, offers a pleasantly busy backdrop for Liz’s solo life in Brooklyn. The brick wall separating her apartment from Nell’s aptly represents the walls Liz needs to break down.
The play’s act break takes the audience to the heart of its message. In a moment reminiscent of a grown-up Orphan Annie, Liz finds herself forced to call her dog’s name to prove that she is the rightful owner and to wrest her back from a sleazy dog hoarder (Louis Kyper, who riotously embodies a slew of one-off characters). Calling the name that comes to mind, she shouts a description of the stray’s status as a temporary pet, “Foster!” In a moment of transformation, though, Foster changes from a descriptor to a name as we go to intermission.
When Act II resumes, Liz is still calling “Foster!” but with the affirmation that this is her dog and that she has been claimed. That change exemplifies the play’s meditation on just how transformative the love of a dog can be and how simple yet radical it is to open your heart to unexpected love.
THEATER REVIEW
“Dog Mom”
Through April 19. $40-$45, with discounts available. Horizon Theatre Company, 1083 Austin Ave. NE, Atlanta. horizontheatre.com.
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I.B. Hopkins is a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to reviewing theater, he writes plays and musicals. He is currently based in Atlanta, where he can be seen walking his dog, Dolly, around Candler Park.
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