{"id":112296,"date":"2026-09-19T14:37:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T21:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=112296"},"modified":"2026-09-19T14:43:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T21:43:27","slug":"jokes-physical-gags-lighten-fast-paced-alcoholism-themed-white-chip-in-marin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/jokes-physical-gags-lighten-fast-paced-alcoholism-themed-white-chip-in-marin\/","title":{"rendered":"Jokes, physical gags lighten fast-paced, alcoholism-themed \u2018White Chip\u2019 in Marin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"
\n(<\/span>L-R) Danny Scheie, Benjamin Clark and Lyndsy Kail play members of Alcoholics Anonymous in Marin Theatre’s “The White Chip” onstage in Mill Valley through Sept. 20, 2026. (David Allen via Bay City News)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

by Woody Weingarten, Bay City News<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe White Chip,\u201d a one-act play at Marin Theatre, might easily have slipped into being an \u201calcohol-is-evil\u201d sermon if not for the skills of playwright Sean Daniels and director Lance Gardner. They don\u2019t allow more than a few seconds to pass without a funny one-liner or a funny physical gag. Elements of addiction and recovery, the fast-paced show\u2019s main motifs, are quasi-autobiographical for both.<\/p>\n

The show is buttressed by stellar acting by Benjamin Clark as Steven, an on-again, off-again, self-destructive drunk; and Lyndsy Kail and Danny Scheie, a two-person battalion of swift-change, often humorous characters.<\/p>\n

Steven, who works relentlessly to grab theatrical success on Broadway, relies on booze binges trying to escape inescapable pressures. Making a good choice is a difficult task for him, except perhaps when he must pick either \u201cthe fat Elvis or the skinny Elvis\u201d to be in his Las Vegas wedding party.<\/p>\n

The nerdy protagonist chronologically revisits his life on the treacherous road to recovery, defensively citing famed alcoholic playwrights, then rhetorically asking the audience if it would really \u201cwant to read a sober Jack Kerouac or a sober Hunter S. Thompson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Benjamin Clark plays Steven in Marin Theatre\u2019s \u201cThe White Chip\u201d onstage in Mill Valley, Calif., through Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (David Allen via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nOne of the funniest bits is a slapstick sequence in which white chips \u2014 from Alcoholics Anonymous, signifying 24 hours of sobriety or, indeed, simply a desire to stop imbibing \u2014 are flung around the stage as if they\u2019d been shot from a cannon.<\/p>\n

Steven refers to his \u201clifetime love affair\u201d with the bottle, especially vodka, because it\u2019s not detectable on the drinker\u2019s breath. He darts from New York to Florida to Kentucky, blacking out more than once. And he details a string of accidents, arrests and relapses. But he also pinpoints moments of sheer joy and interrupts his trek to the bottom when he finds both his higher power and help from Jewish alcoholics, whose sense of humor is healing.<\/p>\n

Those moments are opposite to his \u201cimprisonment\u201d in a reboot camp.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Scheie, with excellent accents and facial mugging, adroitly races between being Steven\u2019s frail father, a spunky airport bartender, a curt German interloper and a kid with squeaky voice and baseball cap turned sideways.<\/p>\n

And Kail is so good at what she does, there\u2019s never a question of whether she\u2019s portraying Steven\u2019s mom, who constantly greets him with f-bombs, or one of his multiple girlfriends, or other characters who become real with a flip of her hair or a wide-eyed expression.<\/p>\n

Also, both Scheie and Kail imitate the voices in Steven\u2019s head, two cats, and, hilariously, walls and doors of a moving elevator.<\/p>\n

The show boasts excellent stagecraft. The set by Christopher Fitzer has a shiny bar with a wall full of bottles that light up for emphasis. Spense Matubang\u2019s lighting, from sensually dim to brilliantly bright, adds drama, and Lisa Townsend\u2019s choreography is sublime, whether in a Keystone Cops-like chase scene or a change-personality moment resulting from a flip of a cap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White Chip,\u201d which runs 1\u00be hours with no intermission, might leap from a B-plus to an A-minus if 20-30 minutes were chopped from the second half. Nonetheless, this hard-on-the-tush version is worth a theatergoer\u2019s time. It\u2019s always a tough job to balance comedy and poignancy, and this production does it well.<\/p>\n

Marin Theatre\u2019s \u201cThe White Chip\u201d continues through tomorrow at 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley; tickets are 39 to $110 at www.marintheatre.org.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was first published on LocalNewsMatters.org, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation http:\/\/www.baycitynews.org\/contact\/.<\/em><\/p>\n

Woody Weingarten can be contacted at www.woodyweingarten.com<\/strong> or www.vitalitypress.com or www.voodee@sbcglobal.net.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(L-R) Danny Scheie, Benjamin Clark and Lyndsy Kail play members of Alcoholics Anonymous in Marin Theatre’s “The White Chip” onstage in Mill Valley through Sept. 20, 2026. (David Allen via…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":4.3,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-woody-weingarten"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"