Review: OnStage's 'Turning Off the Morning News' takes dark look at American men's gun obsession

In the opening minutes of Christopher Durang’s black comedy “Turning Off the Morning News” at OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista, a video plays featuring TV news reports of fatal shootings across America, including this month’s mass shootings in Texas, New York and California.

Then, a deranged-looking man walks onstage, locks eyes with members of the audience and says he’s feeling depressed and thinks he’ll kill himself ... or maybe he’ll shoot a bunch of people at the local mall or inside the theater first before taking his own life.

OnStage artistic director James P. Darvas had planned to produce the play in 2020, but the pandemic delayed its local premiere until this weekend. He said he considered canceling the production after an 18-year-old man gunned down 10 people at the Tops market in Buffalo on May 14. Then he considered it again on May 15, when a 68-year-old gunman killed one and injured five at a Taiwanese church in Orange County.

Salomón Maya plays Jimmy with a bizarre, crazy-eyed glee. He also created the show’s projections, which had to be re-edited three times because of the recent shootings. Carla Navarro plays the intentionally oblivious Polly on the knife edge of sanity. Eddy Lukovic plays Clifford as a grieving man struggling to find peace, and Ray-Anna Young is gentle and supportive as Salena.

The 90-minute play goes down a dark path, but fortunately ends on a slight up note. The experience of this wild ride is uncomfortable and unsettling, which is probably just what Darvas and Parker are hoping for with their bold production, featuring scenery by Kristen Flores, sound by Estefanía Ricalde and lighting by Dylan Carter.Where:

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