A Good Smoke
Henry Gummer as Dave, Barbara Gruen as Mom & Blake Anthony as Joe

GO Writer-director Don Cummings adeptly captures the chaos enveloping a collapsing family. Cummings has a gift for the pointed barb and some of the dialogue is hilarious despite the situation's gravity. His direction is as fast-paced as the dialogue.
--Sandra Ross, LA Weekly GO

On opening night of Don Cummings’ darkly funny A Good Smoke the Chandler Theatre was filled with uproarious laughter, and I was among those who laughed the loudest. Much of the humor is in the performance of lines that, in and of themselves, seem to be unlikely laugh-getters. Cummings’ script is so devilishly clever that it doesn't need “jokes,” though lines like “Don’t look at me in that tone of voice,” are indeed funny. Under Cummings’ skillful direction, Barbara Gruen (Mom) gives one of the most furious, fearless, and physically fatiguing performances I’ve ever witnessed. Henry Gummer’s likeable persona works to make Dave the most sympathetic character, and once again those “sad but sparkling eyes” speak volumes. Cummings, who also penned the very funny The Fat Of The Land, clearly understands the fine line between comedy and tragedy, and A Good Smoke walks that line to often side-splitting results. This is a play worth seeing, and one which will certainly provoke much post-curtain discussion. A Good Smoke is “smoking-good” fun.
--Steven Stanley, LA StageScene.com

We're all addicts, admits Don Cummings' cheerfully rude comedy, "A Good Smoke," whether it's momma, nicotine or self righteousness, there's no limping through life without a crutch. It's tough to mine much that's new in the dysfunctional family genre, but Cummings has a feel for desperation, and he gives each of the play's women her own awful, nakedly human monologue.
-- Charlotte Stoudt, Los Angeles Times

This family’s entrapment is tragic, but not without many comic undertones, as dysfunction and dark humor go hand in hand. Everyone can relate to at least one problem, and the familial plight is so pathetic at times, especially Joyce’s, that laughter seems a better medicine than tears. The ensemble is solid. Gruen is outstanding in her brutally honest portrayal. Her lonely conversation on a cell phone to a voice machine as she cleans the house at 5am is monumentally engrossing. Her ferocious attack on lines like “Pull it together, Susan!” is drop dead hilarious. Gummer lends the complicated Dave, who is the spokesman for the playwright, a dynamic focus and compassionate sensitivity. Cummings stages the piece on the small Chandler stage with the utmost dexterity. The title A Good Smoke refers to the family’s addiction to cigarettes, and at play’s end, the bleak, silent freeze-frame portrait of the typical American dysfunctional family lighting up makes us simultaneously laugh and cry. 5 out of 5 stars – Don Grigware, Grigware Talks Theatre

The Highest compliment one might pay to Don Cummings’ alternately hilarious and heartrending new play, The Fat of the Land, is that it has its Chekhovian moments....His modern day play is driven by witty, ultra-contemporary banter...His fragile mix of tones in this bittersweet portrait of characters in transition works effectively to illuminate a rich tapestry of mini-dramas that are woven into a satisfying whole. With some judicious tinkering, Cummings’ gripping serio-comedy could have an illustrious future.
– Les Spindle, IN MAGAZINE

Using the same tart wit he displayed in his one-man play, American Air, Cummings subtly sets the artists’ self-absorbed creativity against their neighbors’ artless bluster and destructiveness — all with a sorrowful Chekhovian languor.
– Steven Leigh Morris, LA WEEKLY

Put all this together, shake it out, and you have the world premiere of The Fat of the Land, writer Don Cummings' dark comedy, with interesting characters, good dialogue, and some zinger lines. Director Kelly Ann Ford manages to keep all the drama and high jinks moving at a crisp pace. The amiable cast gives 100 percent. Gantzos and Miller, as the odd couple, add sturdiness, even as they question their own future; McBride portrays Beverly with a neediness that is, oddly, both tolerable and annoying; Wilson's endearing innocence as Robbie makes us hope a casting person will love him as much as he loves himself; Bader's Tom vies with a snake in the grass for stature; and Alemshah's Claudia is very fitting as the lady in waiting.
- Dave DePino, BACKSTAGE WEST

Cummings’ flair with dialogue is fluid and he has some wonderful laugh-out-loud lines.
– Dave DePino, BEVERLY PRESS

LA Weekly Review
American Air

Click here to enlarge