Gruesome Playground Injuries

02/18/2025

[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Playhouse West’s production of Gruesome Playground Injuries.

It was just an ordinary Sunday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley. The venue was the Playhouse West Theatre. The play I was to review was called Gruesome Playground Injuries. I liked the title, but I had no idea how the next two hours would affect me so. The phrase that immediately came to mind was, “Devastatingly Beautiful.” I was not prepared in any way for the presentation of this play, to affect me in a way that still stays with me. I figured I would see a nice entertaining play in a small theatre with an audience of eager friends and family members. What I got was a depth of experience that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

The stage was adorned with a playground setting that would be the habitation of childhood traumas, adolescent transgressions, and adult reckonings. The residents of this intrepid place are Doug (all fingers and thumbs), who wears his pain on the outside of his body, played with quiet and heartbreaking care by Grant Terzakis. His “guardian angel or relentless antagonist, Kayleen, is played by the remarkable Marilyn Bass. Ms. Bass not only holds your attention with her heartrending performance, but she brings you into the space and demands you feel what Kayleen is feeling.

Together, Mr. Terzakis and Ms. Bass not only inhabit these tragic figures, but they form a bond that transcends actor and character.

There were moments in this play that I had to fight myself from not climbing on stage and to help both wonderfully tragic characters. Their interactions were that devastating and beautiful.

Gruesome Playground Injuries is exquisitely and powerfully written. It kept me on the edge of my seat. Each scene poured into the next and left me wanting more. If only Kayleen would tell Doug how she really felt. If Doug would just stop for a moment and see the pain that flows out of Kayleen. I was not only drawn in, I was both of them at different points of the play. That is what great writing does. It transfixes you and grabs a hold and doesn’t let go.

However, I would be remiss not to mention the director of Gruesome Playground Injuries, Wolfgang Bodison. With writing this good, the casting needed to be perfect. I am glad to say that sometimes the best thing a director can do is find the right actors for the role. Terzakis and Bass are the only actors for these roles.

I don’t usually go on and on about a production that is outstanding. But, in this case, the success of this production was not only what happened on stage, but what the audience walked away with. As the final blackout turned to the curtain call, the pain that I just witnessed had made its way into my soul. That’s the whole point of art. The actors, the best of them, always leave something behind on stage at every performance. They gave enough of themselves that I took pieces of them home with me.

Bravo indeed. Highly recommend!

The Cast:

Marilyn Bass – Kayleen
Grant Terzakis – Doug

The Crew:

Rajiv Joseph – Playwright
Wolfgang Bodison – Director & Set Design
Sandra Kuker-Franco – Publicist (SANDRA KUKER PR)

Where:

Playhouse West
4250 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91602

When:

February 15 – March 2
Saturday 7pm and Sunday 2pm
Running time: 90 min. (no intermission)