by Barry Willis

Teenage angst gets a full workout in ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| at American Conservatory Theater’s Strand Theater on Market Street in San Francisco,  through April 19.

Set in the East Bay, the story is about four girls in a summer music program, preparing for a final concert before they enter their senior year of high school. Practice and rehearsals aren’t tremendously daunting, but personal problems borne by a couple of them certainly are—especially  by Margot (Naomi Latta), a morose, introspective drummer with an unhappy home life.

Early in the tale, she jumps on some BART tracks to retrieve her lost cell phone, a potentially suicidal act, prompting shock and sympathy from her soon-to-be-friend Fax (Hillary Fisher). Margot’s problems are a running theme throughout Elsa Davis’ script, directed by Pam MacKinnnon. Davis also wrote the show’s original music—interesting, but not memorable.

Yeena Sung puts in a sometimes hilarious performance as Rile, a perpetual stoner who eats gummies like candy and throws a spectacular drunken hissy fit in the dining area of a taco shop. Gianna DiGregorio Rivera rounds out the quartet as multi-instrumentalist Clementine.

Hillary Fisher is the anchor and star of this production. As delicate and agile as a fawn, she embodies the most stable member of the group, with tremendous mastery of dialog and movement. An astounding soprano, she sings beautifully, moves gracefully, and depicts her character with wonderful nuance and subtlety.

Fisher is destined to go far in theatrical arts should she choose to do so. Her performance alone recommends this production, which at two hours would be more effective edited to ninety minutes or so. There’s too much redundancy built into the script, and a surplus of dead time that could be compressed. Nina Ball’s geometric set is glorious, as her work always is, and Russell H. Champa’s lighting design is superb.

Very much a work-in-progress, ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| in some ways alludes to the great old TV series Freaks and Geeks. It has potential to be much more than it is. Maybe Davis, MacKinnon, et al will find a way to make it so.

||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :||runs through April 19 at the Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street, San Francisco.

Click HERE for more info.

Photos by Kevin Berne

Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: barry.m.willis@gmail.com