Keegan’s John Doe Is a Promising Ghost Story That Falters
Grief, romance, and a restless spirit collide in an intriguing premise that never quite finds its footing between comedy and mystery.
Dead men tell no tales, they say, but that might just depend on who’s listening. In Angelle Whavers’ dramedy John Doe, a grieving young woman, Zia (Ariana Caldwell), lends an ear to a dead man with plenty to tell, though with no memory of who he was or how he died.
So Zia calls him John Doe (Mitchell Alexander). He doesn’t know his own name, yet he’s certain somebody killed him. “Something or someone caused my death,” he insists, in the hope Zia can help him find justice or exact revenge. But first, as the only person who can see his ghostly form, she’ll have to solve the mystery of his identity and the nature of his demise.
That’s a solid premise for Whavers to build on, having developed the play as part of Keegan’s Boiler Room Series of new works. Boiler Room artistic director Josh Sticklin directs the world premiere, which seems on the right track at the start. Still, any story starting off in a graveyard will have our full attention.
This graveyard, courtesy of scenic designer Sticklin, evokes the right somber yet foreboding atmosphere with just a couple of tombstones, wisps of mist, and the rest of the cemetery projected on the walls behind. Doe first appears to Zia there as she’s pouring her heart out at the grave of a dearly departed loved one.
From that fateful meeting, they forge a partnership to find answers for Doe, while Zia also confronts what she’s desperately missing in her life, and it’s not just the recently deceased. She’s having full-blown panic attacks, and while her intense grief definitely feeds her anxiety, that’s not the only trigger. She’s also crushing on her coffee barista, Talisha (Alicia Grace), and utterly confounded about how to even act around her.
Zia has a lot going on in her head and in her heart, as well as with the ghost over her shoulder, and she often tries to laugh off her awkward, uncomfortable moments. That entails a delicate modulation between her tender emotions, her very serious mental condition, and a good joke here and there, and in that delicate nexus, this production falters.
Caldwell brings a touching warmth to portraying Zia’s heartache and confusion, but fumbles the jokes. It’s a team effort, though, because Grace, while bright and appealing as Talisha, also doesn’t connect with the humor in an impactful way. The pair’s supposedly flirty rapport feels overthought and under-rehearsed.
Caldwell fares better bantering as a duo with Alexander’s Doe, both in playing the comedy off each other and in maintaining the disquieting mood of Doe’s ghost story. Unfortunately, his murder mystery grows muddled, undermined by a hail of barely credible coincidences, one not credible supporting performance, and production choices like Doe’s afro and flared jeans, which might offer clues to when he died, or might just be red herrings that have no bearing whatsoever on when and where he lived.
Even after we know Doe’s truth, his costuming doesn’t particularly make sense. Doe speaks sense, though, in a beautifully written and delivered speech describing “the complete nothing” of existing in death, unknown to himself.
His ghostly reality is more profoundly felt than practically any living emotion the play depicts. Through grief, he’s able to connect with Zia, though from opposite sides of a divide that every single body crosses at some time.
John Doe (★★☆☆☆) runs through Feb. 22, at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $65, with discounts available for students, seniors 62+, and patrons under 25. Rush tickets available at the door, starting an hour before showtime. Visit keegantheatre.com.
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