Audience reviews of “Missing: the fantastical and true story of my father’s disappearance and what I found when I looked for him”

It’s a dark comedy, a woman’s story about the search for her father she hasn’t seen since she was two. It’s told through the many members of her family, whom she portrays.

It’s an intelligent show that challenges you to piece together the puzzle of a dangerously funny, and yet disturbing, story – just as Jessica herself discovers and assembles the puzzle pieces.

It’s hilarious to the point of tears, touching, and close to the bone. How can she make me laugh till I cry telling such a dark story? It’s about discerning how we are impacted by heritage and loss, and it’s about knowing what we are composed of.

-Loni Gray

* * *

I threw my head back with laughter, I inhaled crisply, I raised my eyebrows, I was slack-jawed. The show is a unique combination of autobiography, physical theater, and social commentary. It both delights and amuses, but leaves you with a sense of the heaviness in the world and the fact that you never really know what reality is. She somehow weaves several different stories together and is very clear when she switches to a fresh character. Just when you are immersed in the heavy story, she pops back to herself. Her style is like no other that I have seen and I highly recommend it.

-Ashely Foster

* * *

Chair eyelashes! The angle of Jessica’s feet, sticking up over the folding chair on a high diagonal! The snapping of that bed sheet!

It’s a really smart show. Not just “clever.” Bears re-watching, the way good things sometimes do, you know?

-Jacques

* * *

I laughed hard, particularly at the animated, crazed tirade mode she went into. So articulate and quick and sensible.

My eyes followed the manipulation of objects into extra-daily entities and beings.

I was totally hooked and dangling on the open-ended moments – eager for more pieces of the story to hook together, marveling at the art of the structure. It was just enough ahead to be unpredictable, then it tied pieces together. I remember exhaling as new meanings were revealed. I felt stimulated and energized by such a smart, quick, complex piece.

I was sobered by the references to violence. The common kinds, and the kinds that are rarely elaborated on. It touched off a whole light display of electric undercurrent to this thing we live in. Society, I mean. She made references to huge charged systems, and she handled them so casually, but with such calculation.

I nodded along at Grandma Sally’s letter to the judge – Whew! Sassy! Righteous! Intense.

In this show, the unreal and unseen are taken seriously.

-Andrea del Moral

* * *

This is an intense, very funny exploration of grief, abandonment, and sociopathology – but that is way too abstract a description. I can’t imagine anyone but Jessica making us laugh as she describes the spreading of Ghengis Khan’s rapacious genes across the world. Her precision in language and nuances of feeling let her move through darkness with empathy and profound, deep humor. You haven’t seen anyone who does what she does. This is deeply humane theater, and damn funny, too. It also evokes an ache.

-TJS

* * *

At the moment when the grandmother turned to water, I felt chills running down my arms. The story is told with impeccable timing and movement.

It made me feel the urge to be more playful and gentle with myself in my own searching.

-Frances S.

* * *

This is about mysteries and obsession, about unburying the past, about searching for truth. It’s funny, touching, angering, and smart. It shows how truth is stranger than fiction, and life is more disturbing than we can face directly. Just fascinating.

-JW

* * *

I felt appreciation for the strong-willed women portrayed. She does phenomenal imitations, particularly of her grandmother Sally. The emotional climax of the show was overwhelming and unexpected, and I cried a lot.

-Blake Jones

* * *

The dangers of charm. The ongoing effects of someone’s absence. The difficulties of resolution – the slights and annoyances between the grandmothers are every bit as alive as the pain of having been widowed or abandoned.

Jessica climbing through the chair. The laundry sequence, in which she folds a large cloth around herself, as if wearing a sari. The posture of her “Q” date at the end – hand to forehead, head slightly inclined in a way that is both earnest and slightly sheepish.

These moments, in addition to being emotionally resonant, were also physically virtuosic and often gobsmackingly beautiful.

I know you think you get enough extended family drama every Thanksgiving, and that you only keep going back because you know your mom would never forgive you for ducking out (and because you’re secretly taping the conversation under the table). But think about seeing someone give form to that drama. It’s really brave to be so vulnerable. Jessica is one of the most riveting solo performers I’ve seen, and I’ll cheerfully pay money to see her stand on a stage and tilt her head, and I think you should, too.

-RB

* * *

There were moments of perfect exquisite emotional courage. I loved being both amused and moved at the same time – laughing and on the verge of tears.

I also loved the bit at the end, when she says, “I didn’t tell you about my Q date.” I had a very visceral sense of heightened anticipation – will it be wonderful? difficult? hilarious?  As usual, it was a brilliant mix of them all.

There is so much that blooms within the viewer’s mind after seeing the show. It obviously contains much more than you thought you saw at the time. Who could ask for more?

-Nancy Webb

* * *

It’s a very smart show. It’s abstract but it also has a clear, though complex, storyline. It’s painful and beautiful. It’s physical theater and performance art – surprising use of props and body! This show is amazing.

-Zoe Sameth

* * *

At times I felt profound sadness and impending dread, but other parts were beautiful. Her character changes were subtle and effective.

There’s a theme of searching: deciding how to do it, fantasizing about the results, fearing the results.

It made me curious about other families and other childhoods. I know a lot of people with vanilla histories. Hearing one as complex as hers is fascinating.

-RW