*** You may be a little confused about this one. This play is called “Pot Girls” and is onstage at The Raven Theatre Building. They are also running a play called “Top  Girls” on their other stage. We will be adding that one later in the week. This particular play is presented by The Story Theatre and is a World Premiere written by Paul Michael Thomson, who is a member of this company and is directed by another company member, Ayanna Bria Bakari. This is a company that has been around since 2018 with the idea to create work that will pose questions instead of providing answers. In other words, they want to be creative and have their audience think!

This is a play about the power of women. Our main character, Caryl ( played to perfection by Brenna Distasio) is a playwright, who wants to create a play about women in the workplace. In the initial scene, we see that she has a lover, Edith ( deftly handled by Ireon Roach) who is African-American, and not into the artsy-fartsy scene. She is a pot smoker ( almost constantly), and these two ladies are in love. The initial scene is a sort of party with many playwrights from history showing up at their flat to discuss ideas and drink and smoke pot and allow us to see more of what Caryl is about.

In this scene we meet the other cast members, who will all take on other roles during the 2 1/2 hours ( one 15 minute intermission). They are Tamsen Glaser ( who takes on Brenna, Sapho and Annie), Emily Marso ( who is terrific as mei-Lin as well as Lady Murasaki Shikibu), Laney Rodriguez ( is a stitch in both of her roles, Peter Ferneding ( he plays three of the only male roles in the play) and last, but not least, Myah Bridgewater, who plays three roles, one of which is  a young intern who draws attention to the fact that Caryl might be a racist.

Each act has several scenes and the set (Katelyn Montgomery) is designed to quickly change from the flat to the office as well as backstage. The powerful performances by these actors also helps to keep the story going with very little interruption as scenes change. The lighting (Seojung Jang) was very effective but there were a few flashes that caught my eye, but did not take me away from the story. Gina Monalvo’s sound allowed us to hear clearly, which often, in a smaller venue can be difficult. The costumes by Racquel Postilgione were terrific and Spencer Diaz Tootle rounded up a great many props to help tell this story.

While I enjoyed the play, I am not sure it is for everyone. It does deal with sexual situations, drugs, racism, and has a few spots that seemed disjointed to me. We see Caryl go through some major traumas as well as some very happy times, but when we get to the epilogue ( which I would never have anticipated), we lose her and what happened to her. I suppose if they had ended with the ending rigth before the epilogue, many might have been satisfied, seeing that while Caryl was able to do her thing, she paid a price. I guess I will have to see how this particular work compares to the other show, “Top Girls”!

Meanwhile, “Pot Girls” will continue thru March 8th with performances as follows: