THEATER REVIEW: HOLES

Reviewed by Ike Holter
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There's nothing like an audience of over caffeinated kids cramped into a downtown theater on the dark side of 10am. They squeal. They spill. They scream.
These tortures usually stop a show cold, but, in the case of "Holes", the audience plays an active part in the enjoyment of the new play from Depaul Theater's Playwork's series.
Adapted from his award winning young adult, Louis Sachar creates a world where teenage delinquents serve time digging holes in the desert. Andrew Goetten plays Stanley Yelynats (yes, his first name is his last name spelled backwards)-- a sweet kid serving what could become a death sentence digging deep pits in the hot heat. Goetten is wonderful with the fish-out-of-water scenario the plays demands; he's an outcast in a sea of outcasts. Lucy Sandy (a girl!) plays Zero, Stanley's only confident in the soul sucking wasteland lorded over by the Warden (a shocking and effective Meg Elliot). Mark Thomas Boergers and Conor McChail are stellar as the Warden's henchmen; at first cute and comedic, then terrifyingly imposing.
When Stanley and Zero discover the Warden's real reason for digging massive holes in the earth, the play becomes a comedic-adventure that touches on race, class, and family history.
The play includes flashback segments that play directly into Stanley's adventures in the desert. Rashaad Hall and Katherine Cobb do great work in a shocking subplot that's THIS close to being too adult for young audiences (but aren't those always the best?)
The play opts for a "grown up" sense of style and pacing; there's no sight gags or cheap-thrills in John Jenkins direction. Instead of pandering, the play asks the young audience to step up and focus on the story at hand.
And the best part? The audience WANTS to step up. Once the play settled into it's rhythm, The audience of 300 5th graders were at the edge of their seats, watching "Holes" with the same kind of attention that's reserved for a night out at the movies.