Berkshire on Stage

Stage thrillers are meant to be escapist fare, where you get your nerves jangled by some nefarious plotting involving missing jewels or wayward wives but in Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job opening Adirondack Theatre Festival’s season at the Charles R. Wood Theatre in Glens Falls through June 28 the setting, topics and themes may disturb you more than you had hoped for.

The play opens in a wealthy therapist’s office decorated with upscale hippie chic (framed Monk, Miles & Dead posters, a guitar, a phonograph with Steve Miller’s “Book of Dreams” displayed) with a young woman, presumably the patient, holding a gun on the bearded clinician. 

The two hander is populated by Laura Menzie packing heat as the very disturbed Jane and Paul De Boy as the avuncular Loyd. They are both superb. How the therapeutic session is going to proceed after a firearm is introduced is one of the many questions that will occur to you throughout the night but it’s a helluva opening to a play.

The recent Broadway hit is receiving its Capital Region premiere under the expert direction of founding and current ATF Artistic Director Martha Banta. Her technical team is working overtime with set designer Gary Wilson, lighting designer Taylor Jaskula and sound designer Chris Reed Jr. providing many bumps in the night as the action will frequently black out, jump forward or startle with another piece of action juxtaposed onto the main story.

What Jane is seeking from the counselor is not necessarily treatment but she needs his positive recommendation to return to work. A couple of months ago, Jane made a media sensation of herself by jumping on a desk and screaming her head off. What drove her to it was her job as a content moderator where she was tasked with watching the foulest things on the internet (gratuitously listed for their shock value) and spiking them for our safety. She claims “It’s a privilege to suffer as much as I do.”

The therapist has been chosen carefully for he has his own surprises that will shock and awe you. The structure of the session is best forgotten quickly because there is nothing safe or nurturing going on here.  Because we are in the worlds of technology and mental health, I have a feeling that many people would feel less than entirely comfortable with their feelings of security and well-being in these areas. I know the play kicked up a lot of personal insecurities with me.

Laura Menzie is tough as nails as she takes a combative stance to getting her job back. She appears to be battle tested and ready for more.

Paul De Boy had a very ingratiating sincerity in his questions and his confessions which blurred the line between doctor and patient but added significantly to the feeling that the encounter was going off-balance.

The play is never boring as it toggles through themes of our relationship to technology, the massive gulf between the generations (he’s a boomer and she’s a millennial) and our psyche shaped by our employment.  There is a pretty severe ick factor to the play though as Jane recounts what she’s seen on the internet and another story used for effect. After being dragged through the knot hole, the audience is left to speculate what happens after the final blackout.

Banta says in her Director’s Note that she thought “It may leave you arguing about it all the way home.” My partner and I were totally in agreement on the excellent quality of the artistic production but may have quibbles on the need for some of the excess and even what actually went on.

“JOB” by Max Wolf Friedlich, directed by Martha Banta, was presented by the Adirondack Theatre Festival at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, NY, June 17-28, 2026. CAST: Laura Menzie as Jane and Paul De Boy as Loyd. CREATIVE TEAM: Set designer Gary Wilson, lighting designer Taylor Jaskula, sound designer Chris Reed Jr. https://www.atfestival.org/

CONTENT ADVISORY: Contains flashing lights, discussion about the sexual abuse of minors, as well as the use of a prop gun.