In the Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency at the Chain Theatre

Holli Harms
April 19, 2025
chaintheatrenyc, Holli Harms, Openingnight.Reviews, theFrontRowNYC

5/5 - (1 vote)

Living in the now, in your art, is what John Mullican’s new play “In the Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency“, playing at The Chain Theatre, is entreating us to practice. Fear stops us from doing our art and being the person we can be, but what if we were faced with an unbelievable, life-threatening moment that wakes us up to our true selves? That life-threatening moment comes to life in this remarkable true story about the World Airways Flight 30 accident on January 23, 1982. The plane skidded off the end of the icy runway and into the frigid waters of Boston Harbor.

Visitations from the Past: Guidance Through Crisis

Mullican’s story of trauma and recovery takes us from the moment he enters the plane, to the crash, where he encounters in those moments of fear and not knowing his deceased famous artist parents, Luchita Hurtado (Dolores Aguanno) and Lee Mullican (Fran Montano). They encourage him that if he survives, he must pursue his passions and stop running away from them. They do their best with their persuading and then fade away, hoping they have gotten through to him. Then his childhood friend and dance partner, Bill (Jason Leon-Baptista), appears to remind him to live and dance, dance, dance!

The Self-Discovery Question

What do we truly know about ourselves, and what do we hide from out of fear, afraid of not living up to ourselves?

An Immersive Theatrical Experience

All of this is told with self-effacing humor and a moving music downbeat. DJ Amoni West is on stage supplying the soundtrack and sound effects. Flight attendants Stacy Aung and Katheryn Pena are our guides. We, the audience, are passengers on the aircraft and on this journey. John Mullican’s play is a lovely immersive production that, through sight and sound, is linked with pull-you-in visuals shown on the stage’s screen, giving the actual feeling of being on a plane. The hilarious attendants as well as our DJ, who has a sign on her table that reads “God Is A DJ,” give us the usual flight attendant spiels about safety and turbulence, but with outrageous twists, turns, and throw away moments that will have you quietly giggling the next time you are flying and hear those pre-flight announcements.

Creative Excellence: Staging and Design

The wonderful staging by director Rickie Peete and Kiana Moattari’s slick choreography and Fritz Davis’ fabulous video designs help to move Mullican’s rapid, quick-fire dialogue, creating a satisfying evening of theater and a reminder that on a plane we are all strangers, cramped in claustrophobic quarters for hours without the comforts of home. Yet, we somehow make it work for the most part without any problems—our little touch of magic expressing human respect and love.

A scene from In The Unlikely Event Of An Actual Emergency at the Chain Theatre. Screen capture courtesy unlikelyplay.com

A Powerful Reminder to Embrace Life

“In the Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency” is seventy-five minutes of a touching reminder to not beat ourselves up to the point that we slink away from our true possibilities.