Jonathan J. Miner
Frank (Desmond Hawkins), who fears he is a "were-coyote," shares a PBR with romantic rival Alden (Edric Johnson).
You can almost smell the PBR. After a brief period of skipping town for a vacation in, eh, Platteville, local prankster and former grocery store bag boy Frank — the protagonist in Mercury Players Theatre’s new production, Coyote Moon — returns to his small-town home.
But there’s one catch: Frank (Desmond Hawkins) thinks he is a were-coyote (yes, not a werewolf, but a were-coyote), and as each moment passes, Frank is convinced he is going to “change.”
He binds himself with chains, throws the key into the swamp and faces the impending wrath of his pregnant 19-year-old girlfriend, Jenny — while occasionally pounding down Pabst and howling and writhing on the ground.
Coyote Moon, written by Madison native Sam D. White and directed by David Pausch, runs at the Bartell Theatre until April 23. Its simple set evokes small-town Wisconsin: the screen door and brick exterior of Happy Corners Tavern, the local watering hole owned by Frank’s mom, Barb; a vibrant green door to the shed where the storytelling town drunk Pete passes out every now and then; a weathered picket fence; and a porch, complete with a railing, two folding chairs and, of course, a cooler full of PBR.
White is a longtime member of Madison’s Playwrights Ink, where Coyote Moon, a 2013 Wisconsin Wrights winner, received its first development. His serious interest in writing began with a playwriting class at Edgewood College, where he wrote his first one-act, Watermelon Seed Spitting, Stupid, which was awarded a staged reading at the 1981 American College Theatre Festival.
Jenny (Stacey Garbarski) and Barb (Deborah Hearst) wonder if Frank will ever come back. The drama starts when Frank discovers Jenny is marrying another man, the sharp-dressed, smug, financially stable Alden (Edric Johnson), a country club regular who runs a string of hardware stores.
As it explores the theme of running from the future and not letting the past determine your destiny, Coyote Moon has members of the audience howling with laughter as they contemplate what will happen when the moon rises.
But no spoilers here. I’ll leave it to you to gather your wolf pack and see the show to find out.
