Bridging the great cultural chasm: A fractured comic fairy tale of ‘Human Error’

From left, Andrew Hawtrey, Kiel Kennedy, Lauren Burns, Kapil Talwalkar, Kristen Vaganos / Jeff Lorch

LOS ANGELES — This is one of the most fractious times in our nation’s history, as we experience more division in America than at any period since the Civil War and the Vietnam War. The USA is deeply split today along political, ethnic, gender, and economic lines, with massive income inequality and intense partisan polarization. Of course, the disunity of the Blue State/Red State divide and Culture War jihad now splintering the country provides grist for the media mill and is, shall we say, fertile ground for artistic expression.

Earlier this year, edgy filmmaker Alex Garland dramatized this fractured phenomenon with a powerfully tragic feature film, Civil War. Playwright Eric Pfeffinger has, however, pursued a different tack with the comedy Human Error, which is having its Los Angeles premiere at Rogue Machine Theatre (following a one-night special performance on April 8 nearby at The Groundlings Theatre). What’s the one thing that could possibly bring America’s warring factions together—even if only temporarily?

Madelyn (Kristen Vaganos, who plays Molly on ABC’s General Hospital soap opera) is a 20-something Caucasian feminist, atheist, yoga instructor married to Sameer (Kapil Talwalkar, TV’s Night Court), a bearded staffer of presumably South Asian ancestry at a campus-based research institute who studies (of all things) comedy and self-describes as “a little bit socialist.” To make matters “worse,” the to-date childless couple live across the border in Michigan, north of Ohio, where the Caucasian decidedly Red Staters Heather (Lauren Burns, who has appeared on TV shows such as This is Us and is a main company member of the Groundlings) and Jim (Kiel Kennedy, who was Emmy-nominated for Robot Chicken in the Outstanding Short Form Animated Program category and is also a Groundlings main company member) reside in a lily-white neighborhood.

Clean-cut, six-foot-something Jim is a pickup truck-driving small businessman, gun enthusiast, and fanatical devotee of Ohio State’s football team (although neither he nor his wife attended that university). Stay-at-home mom Heather, a pro-life Christian, is the self-proclaimed “CEO” of their household, which includes three boys. What do these two young couples on the opposite sides of the ideological spectrum have in common and how could their paths possibly cross?

Well, they meet by accident, thanks to this comedy’s fifth character, the bumbling Dr. Hoskins (Andrew Hawtrey, who has appeared in various L.A. stage and TV shows, such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and is also a Groundling), whose bedside manner could be best described as “oopsie!” He works at a fertility clinic and has accidentally injected Madelyn’s fertilized embryo into Heather. Complications arise—made all the more complicated by the Blue State/Red State divide of the two couples.

Will Heather abort the botched procedure? If not, will she want to keep the baby? Or will she bring the infant to term and give Madelyn the child? What’s a mother to do? How will the diametrically opposed couples interact? It’s all mother-father fodder that is in the comfort zone of the sketch comedy The Groundlings are renowned for, as well as sitcom fare that occasionally goes over the top, all with a topical twist.

In terms of Human Error’s politics, they’re rather generalized, archetypal, or caricaturish, depending on your point of view. For instance, I don’t recall Trump ever being mentioned by name, although the play is set in the present day. Pfeffinger wrote the one-act production at least six years ago (Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre Company mounted it in Chelsea, Michigan, in 2023), and since then, following the Dobbs decision that struck down nationwide legalized abortion, IVF has become a major issue. Perhaps Human Error is due for a slight update, with the controversial new laws regarding in vitro fertilization added to the madcap mix to further complicate the couples’ decision making and soul searching. In any case, Pfeffinger takes jabs (enraged Madelyn literally does) at America’s troubled healthcare system.

The standout in the cast is Kiel Kennedy, who manages to inject some humanity into his knucklehead, caveman, he-man persona. He’s a hoot to watch in most of the scenes he’s in. Scenic designer James Morris’ set serves as the home and lake house of the Ohioans, as well as the Michiganders’ residence, including Madelyn’s yoga studio. Director/actor Joshua Bitton (whom I recently caught in A Noise Within’s production of Shaw’s Misalliance) helms this amusing look at what happens when the worlds of Blue Staters and Red Staters collide. Could it lead to the birth of a new nation? After all, beyond our dogmas and ideological differences, we’re only human, and to err is human, while to laugh is divine.

Human Error is being performed Fri., Sat., and Mon. at 8:00 p.m., and Sun. at 3:00 p.m. through Sept. 1 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles 90048. For reservations call ​(855) 585-5185 or go to the company website.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Ed Rampell

Ed Rampell is an LA-based film historian and critic, author of "Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States," and co-author of "The Hawaii Movie and Television Book." He has written for Variety, Television Quarterly, Cineaste, New Times L.A., and other publications. Rampell lived in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and Micronesia, reporting on the nuclear-free and independent Pacific and Hawaiian Sovereignty movements.