Examinier.com<\/a> John A. McMullen II<\/strong><\/a> Sometimes a mediocre play jumps to life when you assemble an extraordinary cast with a primo director.<\/p>\n Christopher Chen\u2019s \u201cMUTT<\/a>\u201d at Impact Theatre<\/a> means to be sardonic and poignant. Some of the scenes are funny and quirky and insightful, but it is overwritten without much change of mood.<\/p>\n The idea is that the Repubs need a multi-racial candidate to win back the votes. They introduce a new term to this Caucasian audience member: \u201chapa,\u201d i.e., a person of mixed race, seemingly with a necessary Asian component. They vett a half-Chinese, half Caucasian Congressman played by Matt Lai\u2014an actor who has the extraordinary ability of naturalness, whose every move and line seems as if it just occurred to him, which is my functional definition of extraordinary acting, the kind you see in the cinema. Lai\u2019s Congressman character doesn\u2019t pass the Conservatives\u2019 test because he wants to be himself and not-so-moldable, so they find a former soldier-hero in the stolid-acting Michael Uv Kelley, whose character is an even more mixed race and whatever-they-want him-to-be malleable…<\/p>\n
\n2014-05-12<\/p>\n
\nOakland Theater Examiner<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.impacttheatre.com\/season\/1314\/images\/mutt.jpg\")
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