On Friday evening, Free Play Theatre Cooperative, a social justice and free theater company, premiered Robert Patrick's Kennedy's Children to an audience of around 20 people in Cholmondeley's. Although the script was less than stellar, the six actors managed to wow the crowd with their portrayals of a variety of tropes.

Chum's is not exactly the ideal place to put on a show. At some points, employees were running various machines or chatting with each other, which made it very hard to hear the actors who were not miked. Customers would come and go, occasionally distracting the audience from the show. Because of the small space, the audience and the actors were often intermingled, and it was difficult to follow what was going on.

The weakest aspect of the show was the script. Kennedy's Children is less of a play and more a series of monologues from various characters who represent different aspects of the '60s. In theory, the concept could be interesting, but Patrick's trope-filled writing and lack of context makes the characters unsympathetic stereotypes.

Set in a New York bar during 1974, Kennedy's Children attempts to describe what the sixties were like from a variety of perspectives, including a Marilyn Monroe wannabe, a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran and a cynical former social and political activist. However, because of the one-dimensionality of the characters, the play's interpretation of the decade comes across as clich?(c) and dull. It was also confusing to tell who various characters were, and how they related to each other. Andrew Hyde '16 played a variety of roles, and it took me a long time to realize he was actually part of the performance as he sat behind the counter at Chum's and would occasionally rush out during scenes to play a small part.

However, while the script was weak, the actors were clearly dedicated to getting into character and making a weak play as strong as possible.

Ben Lewin '16, the show's director, played Mark, the Vietnam veteran. Lewin captured how broken his character was through his body language, including hand tremors and stammering. During an especially memorable scene, when Mark has a breakdown over some of the things he saw in Vietnam, Lewin's voice cracked as he wondered "must men die ... so no man might kill?" However, despite Lewin's fantastic acting, Mark came across as a shell-shocked stereotype of what could have been a very interesting character.

Carla (Morgan Winters '17) came across as just a knock-off of Marilyn Monroe. The character of Carla could have been interesting, but her lines were formulaic, and the actions she takes to deal with her problems predictable. Winters did give a strong performance despite these problems.

Likewise, Sarah Duffet '17 superbly portrayed Wanda, a teacher who is obsessed with the Kennedy family. Duffet's voice quivered with emotion when she described Lee Harvey Oswald's death as "seal[ing] the truth off from us forever with a single shot." Wanda played off nicely against Rona (Kiana Khozein '17), a former hippie and activist turned cynic. While Khozein's voice and mannerisms captured the lost idealism that Rona tick, her lines went from ridiculously stereotyped to banal. Rona lamented how Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died and talked about her various exploits at protests, but none of it felt real because she had been to every single major event in the '16.

Although well-acted like the other characters, Sparger (Austin Koenigstein '17) was by far the worst written of the characters. Sparger is supposed to be an actor who performs in underground performances, but he is written in such a way that makes him seem like an annoying, hyperactive child. However, Koenigstein was engaging as he ran around Chum's, jumping from stools to stage. His manic energy combined with vulnerability when delivering lines such as, "alcohol is supposed to kill brain cells. 

The trouble is, it isn't selective," when talking about how he longed to forget elements of his past. Koenigstein was able to overcome his poorly-written character to give a strong performance with his energy and charm.

Overall, I was underwhelmed by Kennedy's Children. While the actors and actresses were talented, the entire show felt like a stereotype or spoof of classic '60s tropes. The show was around two hours, but probably could have been significantly condensed, because at moments, the audience appeared restless or even bored.

The character of Wanda described the nostalgia of the time best with her line, "there are some of us who just try to go on." Lewin and the rest of his cast worked with what they had and tried to go on with a very lackluster show.