CRITIC’S PICK
Almost exactly five years ago, Abigail and Shaun Bengson performed Hundred Days at Know Theatre. Their fierce 2015 production imagined a young couple whose time is cut short by illness but who collapse 60 years of happiness and love into 100 remaining days. The Indie-Folk duo worked on the material several years earlier during the 2011 Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
That show went on to be nominated for 2018 off-Broadway awards in New York City, made into a recording and toured to cities in California and Florida.
They were back in the region earlier this year to accompany a play, Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, during a production in the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. It was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, but a video of the show was made available in April. The Bengsons developed a strong relationship with Actors Theatre, resulting in a produced-for-online show, The Keep Going Song, that’s currently available for streaming for two months. It runs through Oct. 8.
I immensely enjoyed Hundred Days at Know’s intimate 100-seat space in Over-the-Rhine, and The Keep Going Song — produced at Abigail’s parents’ home in Dayton, where a brief visit turned into a pandemic lockdown — has the same warm vibe, tempered with a plaintive, reverential thread. The 55-minute piece can be ordered up for a single online viewing for a contribution (proposed between $15 and $100, whatever you can afford) to Actors Theatre.
It’s mostly Abigail and Shaun sitting side by side in what might be a bedroom, singing and making music. He provides much of the musical accompaniment on guitar, whistle and percussion. Rather than speaking, they chant and sing about being together, raising a child, coping with “Hard Times,” seeking “Good News,” and finding joy in the midst of grief.
Abigail’s vocals are delivered with power, often directly to the camera with impassioned grimaces, almost as if she’s giving birth to the messages being delivered. She and Shaun use rhythms as well as melodies to support their subjects, especially by electronically looping selected lines or drumbeats as they create numbers with haunting, harmonic vocal fabrics.
While not being overtly religious, The Keep Going Song has a reverential quality. They share the light of a single candle, pieces of bread and juice (from a juice box). They venture out into a backyard strewn with a few items of recreation for their child, including a small trampoline. At one point, caught in the rain, they celebrate its spiritual cleansing.
The concluding song is a laundry list of things that grow: seeds, apples, walnuts, trees, fingernails and toenails, ideas and thoughts. The message of “growing” is implicit in the theme of “keep going.” The powerful impact of this song cycle by the Bengsons comes from these simple celebrations of limitations received and overcome, moving beyond negativity and sadness to climb toward joy and light.
From Actors Theatre’s website you can link to performance of a song by the Bengsons inspired by recent protests around Black Lives Matter, “What Else Can We Do?” It’s free and well worth a listen.
The Keep Going Song, performed by The Bengsons and presented by Actors Theatre of Louisville, is available online through Oct. 8 via actorstheatre.org.
