Thank You Notes is notable among Fringe Fest plays

Playwright Vicki Vodrey combines element of farce, satire and classical tragedy in “Thank You Notes: Headed to Heaven With Flat Jimmy Fallon,” an entry in the KC Fringe Festival that stands out for the quality of the performances.Vodrey's play undergoes a remarkable change of tone in 60 minutes. In the early going it all seems like a lark, a kooky idea that gets laughs with its absurdist sense of humor.Once you get the hang of it, thank-you notes easy to write.

By the end, we are confronted with profound questions about forbidden love. Ultimately this play is sobering, disturbing and exciting for its audacity.The setting is a funeral for a young woman named Angela (Vanessa Severo). The eulogy read by her twin brother, Ethan (Scott Cox), is one of Angela's choosing. He is to read a stack of her “thank-you notes,” each addressed to an important person in her life.

First, we hear Angela's voice from her open casket challenging Ethan's introductory platitudes. Then she rises from the coffin and becomes a full-fledged character on stage.Also on hand is Ethan's wife Betsy (Mandy Mook), who initially seems almost a nonentity but, like the other characters, undergoes a major transformation before the final curtain.