Admirable intentions are well on display in Alexis Scheer’s play, about a war correspondent suffering from PTSD, receiving its world premiere courtesy of Second Stage. Unfortunately, despite the fine performances and staging, Breaking the Story doesn’t live up to its ambitious goals, suffering from muddled, overly stylized storytelling that fails to enhance its themes. The end result is that you walk away thinking more about the playwright than the main character.
It’s too bad, since the main character, Marina, is played so arrestingly by Maggie Siff (Billions). Marina had dedicated her life to reporting from the most dangerous war zones imaginable and, as the opening scene vividly illustrates, it’s taken a toll, including a nasty facial scar. She and her photographer colleague Bear (Louis Ozawa) are attempting to record a segment even while bombs are dropping all around them, with Marina (and the audience) flinching at every loud explosion. “If I get out of here, I promise things will be different! I’ll change!” she shouts just before being knocked unconscious by a blast, followed by a projection of a newspaper headline announcing that she’s gone missing and is presumed dead.
The setting then changes to the expansive backyard of an expensive home in Wellesley, Massachusetts which Marina has just purchased, having apparently made good on her vow. It’s the day before she’s due to receive a distinguished achievement in journalism award, during which she plans to announce her retirement.
She and Bear also impulsively decide to get married, leading to the introduction of such characters as Sonia (Geneva Carr), Marina’s socialite friend who takes it upon herself to make the wedding arrangements; Cruz (Gabrielle Policano), Marina’s 18-year-old daughter, an aspiring rock singer who had one of her songs, featuring lyrics from her mother’s journal, go viral; and Nikki (Tala Ashe), an ambitious younger journalist who’s producing a podcast about Marina. There’s also Marina’s wisecracking mom (played by the ever-reliable Julie Halston), who seems to have wandered in from a Neil Simon comedy.
Which is one of the problems with the play, which never seems to find a consistent tone or narrative coherence. Periodically throughout the lighthearted interactions among the characters, Marina experiences memories of past traumas, conveyed by the sound of numerous loud explosions that might induce PTSD in audience members as well. There are also flashbacks to her wartime experiences, including a sad encounter with a refugee (also played by Halston.)
More confusingly, some scenes are repeated, as if Marina is suffering from déjà vu, and others feature characters talking about her as if she wasn’t there, to which she reacts with understandable annoyance. Later on, yet another character briefly appears: Fed (a dashing Matthew Saldivar), Marina’s ex-husband and fellow war correspondent who now wants her back.
Despite Siff’s compelling stage presence, the play never really gives us much insight as to why her character’s devoted her life to such a dangerous profession. It seems more intent on providing a disorienting experience, one that is made more or less explicable by a twist ending that feels trite and overly familiar, like a vaguely remembered Twilight Zone episode.
Director Jo Bonney does her best to make the proceedings visceral with both the jolting sound effects and extensive use of projections, including blown-up images of Marina’s harrowing reporting. But it’s not enough to prevent Breaking the Story from being a disappointment.
Breaking the Story opened June 4, 2024 at the Tony Kiser Theater and runs through June 23. Tickets and information: 2st.com
