Review: PUF (A Completely Factual and Objective History of the Publick Universal Friend)

Review: PUF (A Completely Factual and Objective History of the Publick Universal Friend)  | Two Cent Lion Theatre Company | Aurora, CO | Curtain Up! | Gina Robertson

The story begins with an ending. “Jemima Wilkinson is dead!” The townspeople shout with chaotic exuberance, setting the energetic tone for the remainder of the show.

Jemima Wilkinson died in 1776 in Rhode Island and returned to her Quaker community resurrected as a non-gendered spirit inhabiting the body of their friend. Calling themselves the Public Universal Friend, or PUF, they have messages from God about the coming end of time and how to challenge the community’s traditional, rigid social norms. Written and directed by Olivia Buntaine, this historical farce is both a celebration and an admonition, shaped by writing that is incisive and playfully subversive, and direction that feels boldly imaginative and sharply attuned to the story’s comic undercurrents.

PUF (Meg Burless) is earnest and wise as an evangelical preacher who attracts three hundred followers to form America’s first lesbian religious commune in New York. Burless powerfully delivers PUF’s sermons as poetry and dialogue as ironic humor while grappling with the interference of human relationships in conflict with divine mission.

The love story between PUF and Sarah (Maya Ferrario) is intense and real, including one particularly well-directed intimate scene. Pretty Sarah is fiercely determined in her support of PUF, and Ferrario pours her heart into the role.

Costume choices by Johnathan Underwood are glorious. Fantastic wigs, silly beards, and go-go boots all make gender into something absurd. PUF’s sister Patience (Johnathan Underwood), for instance, is beautiful, sporting a bald head and an enormous pregnant belly. Angels Raziel (Emy McGuire) and Raguel (Jeremiah Peck) are stunning in sparkles and shimmer, and Underwood’s Revolutionary Twink is stylishly camp and sassy as the town crier.

PUF’s adversary, William (Todd Kremer), believes PUF’s “gender witchery” is wreaking havoc and viciously defends traditional gender norms. He persecutes PUF and their followers while fending off his own homosexual impulses. He is both noxious and lovable as the villain. His wife, Gomera (Cecilia Kim), is an early follower who finds climactic glory in celibacy at PUF’s tender hands.

When a debate over what it means to be a woman devolves into a tickle fight among the movement’s detractors, the result again is to make gender into something ridiculous.

Michelle Diller steals the scene as the squinty-faced judge who hears the case brought against PUF for refusing to sign their former name to a legal document.

Light and sound design by Maxwell ONeill and Benjamin Nicholson work notably well together to suddenly evoke drama from comedy, like magic.

Overall, we, as modern audiences, will find comfort in this period piece: that division and oppression are not new in America, and that overcoming them requires only a few of us to create a radical, inclusive space that grows, in which we love and support one another. PUF is a high energy, fast paced exploration of a fascinating figure in American history.

The show is produced by Two Cent Lion and appears at the People’s Building in Aurora until February 15.

For Information and Tickets: https://www.twocentlion.com/