I Take It Back

Fringe shows — by virtue of their low-budget, no-frills productions and because they tend to cater to “left of center” political mindsets — always feel like the theatrical equivalent of great liberal column-writing. Issues of the day can be dissected, investigated and ranted about in a thoughtful and usually entertaining way. Just like a good column.

So goes I Take It Back, the well-written and enjoyable political romp from CCM alum Stacey Morrison, directed by her friend and former CCM classmate Amelia Henderson. As the title suggests, the show is essentially the personal, autobiographical tale of what led Morrison to cast her vote in the 2004 presidential election for George W. Bush — and how she has regretted that decision ever since.

The show opens in the dark while Morrison’s voicemail rings out with each passing reminder to vote that she received that fateful day some three years ago. Then out runs the enthusiastic actress, wearing a vaguely patriotic hoodie and a big Julia Roberts smile. Morrison is exactly what you want from a solo performance artist: energy personified.

She jumps about, uses her space and brings a physicality to a show that could easily have been minimally (boringly) staged. Instead, her spunk pushes the piece along.

After showing us her reaction to the election results that day (yes, she violently vomits), Morrison takes us back in time to show what brought her there. And in doing so, the audience is introduced to all manner of funny characters from her past — her mother, her husband, the register-to-vote lady at a high school assembly who asks her simply, “Are you an R or D?”

Surely one of the more provocative scenes in I Take It Back revolves around Morrison’s giving in to her more conservative husband’s political leaning leading up to the election. Much to her elation, she found that the more she agreed (or perhaps kept mum) the hotter the action in the bedroom. Watching her get off — amid a veritable Kama Sutra of positions — to conservative talk radio snippets is practically worth the price of admission.

And so she sums up her reasons for voting for Bush thusly: pervasive talk radio, fear and a needy vagina. And that leads to the show’s central flaw, or at least its major challenge.

By show’s end, I felt zero empathy toward Morrison. She can regret the vote and write it off knowing that hers was not the margin of defeat. But perhaps in some way, despite her winning personality, she knows she is actually the show’s bad guy.

She knows her reasons for voting for Bush were paper-thin, at best. And of course, despite some funny efforts including a letter to Bush and a voicemail to Ken Blackwell, she also knows there’s no recourse. So the whole “take it back” premise is a little disingenuous.

But maybe that’s not the point. Maybe, like a good political column, I Take It Back is more of a reminder of how it happened so that future voters aren’t doomed to repeat that chapter in history. Grade: B

— Rodger Pille