The War on Weather

Because its premise was so intriguing, the performance of Theatrezine’s The War on Weather was that much more disappointing. The play depicts a world of the near future in which the United States enjoys sunny skies and 75-degree weather every day while the rest of the world gets a full load of nasty and dangerous weather. And, of course, there are terrorists who threaten to bring catastrophic weather systems to the U.S. by stealth and by force.

FEMA reacts with typical overkill, bent on interrogating innocent citizens to cast its weather net wide against potential terrorists. Head of FEMA Ohio, Jeffrey (Justin Keen), and his depressed wife Joni (Nakia White) are ultimately caught in the duplicitous dragnet.

So far, so good. After that the plot line becomes both repetitious and incoherent, when  militant FEMA types goosestep onstage, shouting their lines. The overall style of the performance imitates Saturday Night Live, but with far less writing skill or comedic acting techniques.

According to my notes, the ultimate theme of the play was that terrorists will create the storm that will bring down the unjust government. Although couched in satire, the thinking here still seems dubious, defeatist and gosh darn anti-democratic. Grade: D

— Mark Sterner