Many segments in Out of Order, written and performed by Carl Holder (right), involve audience participation.
Carl Holder’s new show is called Out of Order because, while it has all the usual components of a play—not only plot components like “inciting incident” and “rising action” but production components such as the curtain call, a talkback, even a content warning—they don’t occur in their usual order.
And they don’t occur in the same order at every performance, since the sequence is determined by index cards Holder picks out of a bowl over the course of the 85-minute (mostly) solo show that he wrote and performs.
Simon Henriques (right) is a more benign presence in Out of Order than this interaction with Holder suggests. Photographs by Rebecca J. Michelson.
“This whole thing started because I couldn't write a play,” Holder tells his audience (of roughly 35 people max). “But I found I could write down the thoughts that were getting in the way of a play. Card by card.”
Holder goes through the whole bowl, randomly picking card after card and doing what each suggests. Some cards invite audience participation; others state random thoughts or factoids for Holder to share. Several cards are dedicated to the parts of a play’s story structure, and when Holder picks them, he uses his own life as the story—for example, after drawing the “Exposition” card, he begins: “I was a weird but beautiful child. Even early on, my shamelessness was hard to ignore…”
Some of the cards name tasks for Holder to complete, such as “Show your bank statement.” He projects his latest statement on the wall and verbally annotates all his debits—subway swipes, Grubhub orders, Amazon purchases (“I helped pay for the wedding,” he notes apologetically) and so on—for the audience. He also vents about his student loans and lack of a nest egg.
At other times during the show, Holder complains about everything from turning 40 to worrying about his parents to not getting enough job interviews to a single critical comment an acting teacher made in high school. “Therapy session,” therefore, is one way to think of Out of Order. Press materials call it an “interactive parlor game,” and Holder has described it in interviews as “an obstacle course I run myself through while people watch.” It is by only the loosest of definitions a play, and it was originally something Holder did in people’s living rooms. He developed it for theatrical performance with director Skylar Fox.
““Therapy session” is one way to think of “Out of Order.” ”
Holder has someone besides the audience to play this parlor game with him: actor Simon Henriques, who is billed as the referee and dings a call bell whenever it’s time for Holder to pick another card; he takes care of stagehand and bartending duties too.
Out of Order is a very personal project for Holder—so personal it might be seen as crossing the line into solipsism. One card reads, “Self-Indulgent Lightning Round”—Holder quickly rattles off a list of concerns about his life, his appearance, society and so on—but that could just as well be the subtitle for the entire show. Holder carries on throughout his self-focused opus at the high-energy level of a lightning round, right from his initial entrance, when he bounds onto the stage, dressed in a royal blue Adidas tracksuit, and primes the crowd like a motivational speaker.
Through his bowl full of index cards, Holder wrestles with the professional, financial and personal goals he has and hasn’t attained.
Holder is an ingratiating host, and he does show off his skills as an actor (and, if not quite a dancer, certainly a performer who can handle choreography/movement). Most of his acting opportunities in Out of Order come from the dramatization of a purported children’s book titled Farm/City—index cards bearing the names of individual characters (Chicken, Peacock, Ass, Farmer) lead to monologues by each of those characters.
While this may be the most traditionally “theatrical” part of the show, the story line itself isn’t all that gripping. It turns out that it’s more enjoyable to observe—or help—Holder work through his issues. He encourages the audience to join him in soul-searching, directing questions from the index cards to one particular theatergoer (“When was the last time you felt something new?”) or the whole group (“How much do you like being in control?”—which audience members are told to indicate by putting out their thumb and raising or lowering it).
He also involves theatergoers, either individually or as a group, in carrying out some of the activities stated on the cards. And therein lie both the show’s biggest strength and drawback. On the plus side, everybody’s in on this game with Holder, and maybe they can find some commiseration or respite from their concerns in it. What they might not like so much is that Holder created this show to air his concerns, and they’re what fill that bowl with cards.
Out of Order runs through July 22 at East Village Basement (321 E 9th St.). Performances are at 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and at 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and more information, go to outofordertheshow.com.
Playwright: Carl Holder
Director: Skylar Fox
Production Design: Skylar Fox & Adam Wyron
