What’s worse: A comet hitting the earth? A fish biting your hand alive? Or a mission to repopulate the world? If you do not fancy any of these, imagine facing three of them all at the same time! Well, at least that is what characters in Kitchen Theater Company’ production of boom had to negotiate. I merely sat back, relaxed and enjoyed this evening comedy, which I found to be as hilarious as it was intelligent and possibly as thought-provoking as it was perverse. 

The Kitchen Theater Company’s 20th anniversary continues with the regional premiere of boom, an explosive comedy about the end of the world. Jules is a socially awkward graduate student who insists that his fish are predicting a catastrophe involving a comet destroying Earth. As a gay marine biologist, he posts a Craigslist ad to seek sexual favors, but in reality has a grand mission to save the world by repopulating the human race after the calamity. Jo, a cynical journalism major, arrives at Jules’ underground lab-cum-bunker expecting to kiss her virginity goodbye, but instead bids farewell to the outside world as Jules’ prophecy of apocalypse becomes a reality of epic proportions.

Tracing the many twists and turns of boom is a fool’s errand, because its message is simple — we all live on ambitions. Compulsive and wildly neurotic, Jules is merely a dreamer like anyone of us. Dreams are the fodder for his sustenance (together with the diapers, tampons, booze and salmon that he has stocked up for the cataclysm — go figure). Derisive and sexually thirsty as Jo is in her search for “random sex as the last hope in society,” she finds solace from her unlikely queer partner, not from a night of sexual pleasure but from four years (!) of slowly realizing that she is a unique individual. God “keeps her out of harm’s way,” as she miraculously recovers from unexplained faint spells and survives her somewhat tongue-in-cheek suicide attempts.

“The play is funny and smart — a perfect fit for Ithaca audiences,” director Samuel Buggeln enthuses, “You will have to see it to believe it!” Indeed, many elements combined to make this one-hour and forty minute comedy an evening to remember. The repartee between the two central characters was like Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” on steroids. The characters’ loaded exchanges revealed their jarring incompatibility, which ironically facilitated their common pursuit toward reprieve and greater good. The set was wacky yet realistic, quite like what Samuel Buggeln described as “a cross between a futuristic museum display, a scientific laboratory and a strangely overstocked bachelor pad.” 

Kudos to Alison Scaramella for her nifty body work and, more importantly, her multi-faceted portrayal of Jo. There was a certain vulnerability beneath Jo’s savage exterior and f-bomb rhetoric, which was manifested in several of the poignant recounts of her teenage years. I almost wished actor Jimmy King, as Jules, could have matched Alison’s layered characterization of Jo. Jimmy could have milked more of Jules’ troubling past — his homosexuality, his dancer ambitions and the naysayers of his doomsday theory, injecting more tenacity to a character drugged on vivacity. Having said that, Jimmy’s angular, robotic body movements and over-the-top mannerisms did fit very well with Jules’ awkwardness and larger-than-life vigor.  

My favorite, however, was a third character called Barbara, a museum curator who pulls levers at the side of the stage to control the scenes. With her wide-eyed wonderment and passionate discourse about life, she is a brilliant touch to the unfolding narrative. I find Ronica Reddick (as Barbara) extremely lovable as she dispenses nuggets of philosophical truths that manage both to keep the audience nodding in agreement and the black box reverberating constantly with laughter at the same time. 

“Even when disaster strikes, the earth will keep on spinning.”

“Have you ever wondered why you are here?”

“Sometimes, what you are not supposed to do, you should.”

boom is fraught with frivolity, facetious humor and farcical gaiety, but they only serve to make these profound principles more palatable. After all, who can resist a good laugh?