“The Dinosaurs” at Playwrights Horizons (Photo: Julieta Cervantes)

In Jacob Perkins’ play The Dinosaurs, a group of women gather in a multi-purpose room to hold a Saturday Survivors meeting. They are all alcoholics, in varying stages of the recovery process, and this is their community. They meet in fellowship to share stories and, though Perkins’ play outwardly concerns only a single meeting, through several brief skips of time, the play hints that, in some form or another, these women have always been in this room. They were here before it was built and will be there long after it’s disappeared.

Originally commissioned by Clubbed Thumb, though now produced at Playwrights Horizons, The Dinosaurs features many of the hallmarks we’ve come to expect from a Clubbed Thumb play: it’s a brisk seventy minutes, it centers women, and it’s got that immediately recognizable style of humor. Listen to the characters talk about donut filling – that’s some Clubbed Thumb dialogue. 

But it also feels unfinished, like many of the plays that pop up in the Summerworks festival. Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons both have a talent for spotting new voices and producing plays that feel so fresh the printer is probably still spitting out pages. That can be thrilling, but it can also mean that the plays haven’t fully incubated. 

In the case of The Dinosaurs, that incomplete feeling mostly concerns Jane, the character played by the great April Matthis. Jane appears first, sets up the room, and gently guides the meeting. But we learn the least about her. The other characters chatter away, but Jane is withdrawn. Director Les Waters has her stand staring into space more than once, looking for something out beyond. This isn’t indicated in the script, at least how Waters and Matthis portray it. There is a searching emptiness in the character and it’s never revealed what that is. The ambiguity is certainly captivating, especially given Matthis’ ability to express whatever it is Jane is feeling without words. We may not know what it is, but we long to. 

It’s also that nothing really happens, there’s no plot, and no real events transpire. Most of the other characters talk about their lives, they tell us about the Saturday Survivors meeting processes, and they leave. So, because of that, when we are fed these incredibly rich, silent moments from Matthis, the energy in the room palpably shifts. What – is – going – on – with – her? 

For the other characters, Perkins’ dialogue is zippy and amusing, which is a nice subversion of the kind of wrenching, soul-baring you might expect from a play like this. It’s elevated by luxurious casting – theatrical titans like Matthis, Kathleen Chalfant and Elizabeth Marvel sit side-by-side with the talented Mallory Portnoy, Maria Elena Ramirez, and Clubbed Thumb staple Keilly McQuail in a role she was born to play. Because the level of acting is so high, it lends a heft to Perkins’ play that otherwise might not be there.

Similarly, hiring an all-time great like Les Waters to stage the play brings it all together. Waters nails the timing and the mood of the play and is, likely, a huge reason so many heavy-hitters signed on to do it. Waters is adept at creating moments where a chill can descend on the audience, something not necessarily frightening, but recognizable or affecting that reaches the soul.

But, because the production is telling us that something else is going on, it leaves that hunger to find out without satiation. A note from Perkins in the program explains his own struggle with alcohol and the community he has found in similar meetings. It’s a personal play, but simultaneously removed from the playwright’s own experience by focusing on a group of women. Is that a mode of protection, of separating the art from the artist? Perkins can assume these women would have similar experiences as his own, but the small slices we’re fed don’t amount to anything nourishing. Instead, The Dinosaurs becomes an opportunity to see some great actresses do their thing – never a bad way to spend your time.