Zingology

The Salt Girl
written by and featuring John Kuntz
directed by David R. Gammons
November 5-22, 2009

It was just a month ago when I saw John Kuntz in the Nora Theater’s production of The Caretakers, and after seeing The Salt Girl, at The Boston Playwright’s Theatre, I can’t say enough but his range as an actor, but I’d also attest to his skill as a playwright. The Salt Girl, both written and performed by Kuntz, is a monologue, weaving past, present, and future hopes of his main character, Quint, in a semblance of the state of human consciousness. Although there were some dream sequences that I think could be left out, substituted with more actual conversations with Quint’s father who is portrayed one-dimensionally, for the most part the script was insightful, ranging from dark humor to morose reminiscences.

Quint is a complex character obsessed with death. The script touches of the deaths of his family members as well as Quint’s serious consideration of ending his own life. We see Quint as a child, a teenager, and an adult; as a reticent, suicidal, lost soul and as a high energy, sexualized dancer in a Panda costume. Through the TV sets used on shelves in the background, we gain further understanding of Quint’s experience, and in a no-big-deal nude scene, the baby on the screen, in the most powerful of all the images, suggests that Quint’s returned to his innocence. In the end, Quint turns into a pillar of salt, since he has in fact, been looking back, but Kuntz, unlike Quint, should only look forward with this very creative and insightful piece.