Theater Review: Northside Hollow

SARASOTA – Northside Hollow, Jonathan Fielding and Brenda Withers’ groundbreaking 2015 drama about a man trapped in a collapsed coal mine, was brought to life in grippingly-immersive splendor when it opened Friday night at Urbanite Theatre, under the skillful direction of Summer Dawn Wallace.

The play represents the company’s most ambitious set effort since the cutting-edge black box theater opened in spring of 2015, giving the local scene a welcomed shot in the arm, via bold and often unconventional productions. Rick Cannon’s stage, aided by stellar sound and light from Rew Tippin and Ryan Finzelber respectively, successfully creates for audience members the effect of being both deep underground and similarly imperiled.

What unfolds is an almost surreal voyage through one man’s fear and desperation, as he contemplates his life, its choices and the value of whatever faith he can muster in an increasingly hopeless situation. That man is Gene, a middle-aged mine worker who deftly encapsulates the experience of men who work in a dying and dangerous field of employ, for no better reason than it was best amongst a terribly limited menu of options, defined primarily by the place they happened to be born and the station they were unlucky enough to be born into.

Actor David Littleton, who only recently returned to professional theater after a 30 year hiatus, inhabits the character so wholly that one might suspect Wallace, who herself grew up in mining town in rural Tennessee, grew tired of inadequate auditions and went home to pluck a real life miner for the role. New York-based Christopher Joel Onken is splendid as Marshall, the green volunteer rescue worker who discovers Gene, only to find his own position equally precarious as the collapse grows worse.

Littleton and Onken display good chemistry and are locked into a drumbeat rhythm right from the start, and the drama gives Fielding and Withers plenty of room to take the dialog into an existential realm. One can only imagine that Wallace, a talented actress who previously showed off her directing chops in Dry Land(review), was able to draw upon her familiarity with the culture in helming such a well-synced production.

Photo by Dylan Jon Wade Cox.

Having grown up in an eastern Pennsylvania coal mining town myself, I found everything from the set–which even includes a simulated mine shaft in the corridor that leads to the lower seats–to Gene’s quirks and cadence, to be nearly unsettling in their authenticity. The play gets bonus points for its ability to be both artistically profound and tremendously accessible. Add in its riveting pace and you’ve got a 90-minute drama that is perfect for both seasoned fans and first time theatergoers.

If you’re a parent or college student, it would be wise to consider the theater’s $5 student ticket program, as this would be a lovely production through which to initiate someone to the world of local live theater. Northside Hollow runs through March 11. Click here for schedule and ticket info.