Review: Speech, speech, speech in 'Speech & Debate'

The saddest line in this funny play by Steven Karam about misfit teenagers struggling with all the stuff misfit teenagers struggle with is: "I don't want to talk about it."

But they do talk about it - the play's title is Speech & Debate, after all. And Azuka Theatre's nifty production, under Kevin Glaccum's clever direction, manages to be both thoughtful and entertaining. Most important, neither the script nor this excellent cast patronizes these endearing, lonely characters, all hiding behind computer screens.

Freedom of speech. I mean, really? ROFL. (That's "rolling on the floor laughing.") High schools that won't allow the school newspaper to print an article about abortion when the school has an unwed mothers' club? An Oregon town full of "liberal Puritans," where the mayor is a closeted gay man? Solomon (Dane Eissler), an aspiring crusading journalist, is outraged. White sneakers and Lacoste shirt ("it's not an alligator, it's a crocodile!") socially brand him. He types.

The new boy in town, Howie (Bryan Black, first preening, then goofy) trolls for sex online (we read the dialogue on an upstage screen that tellingly doubles as a whiteboard when the scene shifts to a classroom); he wants to form a Gay/Straight Alliance but can't find an adult adviser. His version of a Bible story, written when he was 9 years old, is illustrated in wonderfully silly pictures: Cain slew Abel because he found out his brother was gay. He texts.

They both get roped into joining the speech and debate team by quirky Diwata (Rebekah Sharp, adorable, dimpled) who needs an outlet for her theater ambitions because she never gets a part in any school plays. Perfect compensation: She is the star of this show, and her musical version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible is both hilarious and thematically central to Speech & Debate. She podcasts.

The parents remain offstage, exactly as they are in these kids' minds, merely voices yelling up from downstairs or figures waiting in cars; the only adults we glimpse (both played by Zoe Richards) are a teacher who tries to pacify and a newspaper reporter who self-promotes. The subplot about an English teacher (why is it always an English teacher?) is muddled. The set (designed by Cat Johnson) makes shrewd use of Studio X's little stage.

Speech & Debate is a modest (if overlong) play about hypocrisy and blackmail. It's about speaking and debating and how hard it is to keep a secret. It's good, strong theater.

Speech & Debate

Presented by Azuka Theatre at Studio X, 1340 S. 13th St., through May 24.

Tickets $15-$25

Information: 215-563-1100 or www.azukatheatre.org

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