Austinist Reviews: The Nerd

Set in the mid-eighties, the show revolves around Willum, an up-and-coming architect who has a sweet but distant girlfriend, a stuffy boss, and a droll downstairs neighbor (think Kramer without all the twitching). The setup is simple; when Willum was serving in Vietnam, his life was saved by a man he's never met. He tracks down the man and sends him a letter offering pretty much any- and everything he should ever need. And so...enter Rick. The Nerd.

R. Michael Clinkscales plays the titular role, and he holds nothing back. The nerd is one of those wonderful characters where there's almost no such thing as being too ridiculous, but Clinkscales doesn't upstage. He's very physical with the part, from his nasal drone to his hip-thrusted walk—part Pat and part Urkel. His performance was captivating from the word go, and had us laughing—and cringing—the entire time. His big, but not over-the-top, performance juxtaposed nicely with Derek Jones' Axel. With dry-as-chalk delivery, Jones hung on the fringes and dropped the show's zingers at just the right beat. He also had us rolling, with a character that could've been overlooked if handled less deliberately.

To complicate the plot, Willum's birthday party is descended upon by his stuffy boss, Waldgrave, played perfectly by Michael Rhea. Waldgrave is one of those roles—a fairly one-dimensional "grouchy establishment guy"—that, often as not, goes to some not-terribly-talented fellow who just wants a little time on stage. How refreshing, then, to instead find a skilled character actor holding the reigns. Completing the picture, Miriam Rubin does a splendid turn as Waldgrave's tightly wound wife, Clelia. And not to be missed is child-actor Ian Blake as their bratty boy Thor. There're more than a few bits of physical humor required of the part, and Blake does a wonderful job with them. It's always nice to watch a kid who can really act.

Of course, all of this silliness won't work without straight roles to even everything out, and Keith Yawn and Darla Alpizar deliver the goods in this department. Yawn plays Willum with just the right amount of frustration and sensitivity. The show won't work if you have no sympathy for Willum, but Yawn portrays the everyman required for the role. Alpizar's Tansy is perhaps one of the most challenging parts because she's sideman to the straightman. Alpizar comes across as sweet, smart, and worthy of Willum's devotion.

All of this fine acting takes place on a clean, functional set under basic stage lights, both serving the production well. NxNW doesn't have a space of their own yet, and is currently renting the sanctuary of the Tree of Life IPPL, so their choices in technical design were clearly quite limited. Still, director Dave Butts has orchestrated a straightforward production that focuses on the parts of this work that shine: the great characters and a script that really zips along when the pacing is right, as it most definitely is in this production.

It's great news that the fearless leaders behind NxNW Theatre have chosen northwest Austin to set up shop, and with an inaugural production as promising as The Nerd, we look forward to seeing what else these folks can serve up the rest of this season.

The Nerd plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 5pm, through November 4.