Although it seems unlikely that playwright Gina Montet had this in mind with her new play, Overactive Letdown, anyone who sees her exploration of post-partum psychosis would then be loath to have a baby.
After all, Christine and Mark are a smart, well-educated, caring couple, excited about their imminent parenthood and yet ill-equipped to cope with its demands. For while college instructor Mark takes on additional classes to compensate for his wife’s removal from the workforce, he leaves the rearing of their newborn boy largely to her. And with that added burden, Christine soon develops acute paranoia and mental illness.
So it goes in Overactive Letdown, now receiving its world premiere at Boca Raton’s FAU Theatre Lab. The play amounts to a theatrical contraceptive device for anyone contemplating having a baby. Montet, herself a mother of three sons, paints a harrowing picture of giving birth, where C-section surgery is the least of Christine’s woes.
The play begins with an upbeat sequence, as Christine and Mark toss around possible names for the baby, while he wraps her in plaster, creating a body cast of her boobs and belly. But the fun ends when baby Jack – a compromise name, to be sure – arrives and Christine is soon in over her head caring for the tot.
Following her painful delivery, Christine can barely move from her couch, let alone leave the confines of her apartment. So while Jack sleeps, she gorges on Netflix movies, the characters of which come off the screen and into her hallucinations. For the play’s sake, these cinematic vignettes – a Jane Austen period rom-com, a Titanic disaster flick and a classic Western – leaven the evening, which would otherwise be relentlessly downbeat.
Among Christine’s motherhood challenges is breast feeding. She is coached through the trauma of overactive letdown, the reflex release of an abundance of milk – yes, it’s a real medical condition – and an apt description of her overall mental state.
The character’s emotional roller coaster journey makes Christine a challenging acting assignment, one that Lindsey Corey handles with aplomb. She aptly projects Christine’s anguish, making her an abiding source of audience empathy. Her helpmate Mark is a more levelheaded soul, well embodied by Timothy Mark Davis. Alex Alvarez amuses as the men in the Netflix movies, partnered with Maha McCain, who gets to show her versatility as the lactation coach and as Christine’s well-meaning, but distrusted friend.
Director Margaret M. Ledford has been attached to Overactive Letdown for years, throughout its developmental process. No wonder she is able to guide this first full production through its many transitions between reality and illusion. Michael McClain’s Miami apartment set would be the envy of any young couple and Dawn C. Shamburger’s costumes are on-target, particularly the genre wardrobe for the fantasy film characters.
In a compact, intermissionless 90 minutes, Overactive Letdown presents a cautionary tale of parenting and an eye-opening glimpse of temporary insanity. It deserves to be seen, unless – as so many pharmaceutical commercials warn – you’re pregnant or planning to be.
OVERACTIVE LETDOWN, FAU Theatre Lab, Parliament Hall, Florida Atlantic University campus, Boca Raton. Through Sunday, April 10. $17-$40. Call 561-297-6124 or visit www.fau.edu/artsandletters/theatrelab/.