Written by Brad
Schreiber. Back Stage
West, May 28,
1998
BOILER ROOM
*Critic's
Pick*
"You buy their tears or
they buy your toner." Such is the wisdom of Eddy Kammegian
(Douglas Coler), the head of First National Copier
Products. A former jailed drug dealer and A. A. member in
good standing, he wears his chip with pride, not only
encouraging his phone sales staff but proselytizing about
financial/spiritual betterment. As a Paris vacation contest
winds up, top salesmen Freebase" Frankie (Frank Uzzolino)
and "Doc" (Marty Levy) vie ferociously.
Eddy's part-time paramour Judy Dunn (Adelaide Vaughn)
ekes out time to be with him, aggravated by the presence of
the attractive journalist Nancy Spizer (Susan Ziegler).
Gung-ho second-in-command Dallas Murphy (Jimmie F. Skaggs)
must help handle the staff's insecurities, including
struggling newcomer Jeff Kawasaki (Phinneas Kiyomura).
Playwright Dan Fante has constructed a powerful world in
Boiler Room, one in which its titular boss lives and dies
by the credo, "Program people are moldable." With the
slight exception of Levy pushing the inherent broadness of
his character, this cast is flawless, with commanding,
precise direction on the part of of Jolene Adams. Fante
blindsides the audience with a wonderful twist at the end,
and we savor his exceptional dialogue.
Coler
turns in a riveting, bravura performance, in a role with
the kind of dimensionality actors dream of. Equal parts
evangelist, New Age entrepreneur, Svengali, and,
inevitably, a man climbing desperately over his tortured
past, Coler's nuanced work, in Fante's towering full-length
play (his first), bring fascinating mystery to a man proud
to espouse, "The word 'no' is only a request for more
information."
