'Dial Tones' a bit disconnected
By Jean Marshall
For the Deseret Morning News
Published: December 6, 2007
DIAL TONES; Black Box Theater, Covey Center for the Arts, 425 W. Center, Provo; through Dec. 22; 852-7007; running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.
PROVO — "Dial Tones" premiering at the Covey Center offers an appealing couple in a telephone romance.
Written and directed by local theater veteran Scott Bronson, the play captures the 20-something preoccupation with finding "the one" and with telephone conversations, but it does occasionally experience poor connections.
On the one hand, the play is entertaining and ultimately insightful. Kelly, single and developing a career in photography, played earnestly and naturally by Elwon J. Bakly, dials a wrong number and meets Hazel, a schoolteacher who is drifting between relationships, played by the equally competent Fallon Hanson. The two impose a rule on their "friendship" — they will never try to meet. Feeling the freedom of anonymity, they confide and share about their lives. Fortunately these actors keep the audience engaged despite a few disconnects in the script itself.
On the other hand, both the strength and the weakness of the play is the artificial intelligence character Bronson created behind the phone system, played mischievously by Amelia Schow, who deliberately misdirects Kelly's call (intended for his friend Dan) to Hazel — over and over again — until they begin to get acquainted.
Initially the AI is presented as neutral and devoid of human feelings, but the mere fact of its curiosity undermines that notion, and later in the play the AI speaks to the audience of feelings with words like "cared" and "I loved them" and "emotionally exhausted" and "felt like dying."
If the misdirected phone call "prank" (can an AI conceive of a "prank") is meant to trigger the development of human feelings in this character, somehow it isn't clear how that comes about or whether the AI is self-aware concerning the change. If that is not the intent, then is the vocabulary of emotions just carelessness?
Because the play is based entirely on phone conversations and on the AI's comments, it could be very talky, but the director has included various activities such as correcting homework and handling books to relieve the static situation.
In addition, the AI wanders all over the set, observing and commenting on developments. The director has chosen to suggest that these two always use a speaker phone, so there is no real phone or cell phone in sight.
Still some static occurs when the dialogue becomes draggy, especially during the conversation about "The Island of the Blue Dolphins," which she insists is her favorite book.
Hopefully, a young woman in her 20s who has graduated from college with a teaching degree has read and enjoyed more books than "Blue Dolphin." Certainly it could be one of her favorites. After all, she teaches school and could enjoy reading to her classes. Or is this title a deliberate choice to underscore some immaturity?
And speaking of books, while the Emily Dickinson poems are interesting and even applicable, how does the author account for AI's familiarity with her work? They could be worked into the play in a more natural way, or is there a natural way to have an AI quote her?
Another lapsed connection occurs when Hazel faces a serious challenge in her life but no mention is made of how it impacts her job.
Nevertheless, the play does resolve in a realistic and yet hopeful way without being gooey.
Jean Marshall is a former newspaper arts editor and drama critic with a master's degree in English literature from Brigham Young University. Contact her at
babettesfeast@hotmail.com.
© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company
