This is the funniest, sweetest, deep and yet enjoyable play I’ve had the pleasure of seeing since moving to Maine five years ago. (note: Sylvia at the Theater Project earlier this year came close).

Am I just a sucker for animal personification?  I’ll admit to being a cat person, but I think my delight in this show is more than that. Author Kenny Finkle (a reluctant playwright according to the program notes) has hit a home run with this little gem.  He gets the audience inside the heads and hearts of all his characters, human and otherwise.

Maybe it’s easier for us humans to look at our own emotional challenges through the eyes and mind of what some consider lesser beings.  Maybe we can relate to loneliness, insecurity and disappointment when they are expressed through an animal.

Indoor/Outdoor is the memoir of Samantha, who happens to be a cat.  She is adopted from an animal shelter by Shuman, a lonely man who is looking for a “simple” relationship with another living entity.  Samantha turns out to be anything but simple, and thereby hangs the tale (so to speak).

Samantha and Shuman have their honeymoon period and then end up in therapy (of sorts).  At the core of their problem is communication.  Who among us can’t relate to that?  Enter Matilda, an aspiring cat therapist who tries to help Samantha and Shuman through their emotional challenges, while dealing with her own issues simultaneously.

That’s the basic plot, but it is deliciously complicated by an alley cat named Oscar.  He introduces the old “life is greener elsewhere” scenario and everyone’s life becomes a cat fight.

This play is too good for me to give you any more plot points---they are way too much fun to experience firsthand.
Susan Louise O’Connor is cuddly and believable as the feline heroine Samantha. Without depending upon costuming, this woman personifies catdom, draws the audience in and makes us really “hear” her. Now let me point out, that she is portraying a cat but this woman is so good in this role, that Samantha becomes a person.  (Hopefully, any cats reading this review will forgive me if that is not a compliment).

Chapin Springer is downright sexy as Oscar, the “other man” so to speak, in a love triangle.  He’s sly and agile and true to himself.

J.T Arbogast handles the Shuman role well.  Obviously, he doesn’t subscribe to the rule about not appearing on stage with animals, etc. And thank goodness because the play needs his vulnerable human presence despite the charm of the felines.

And Laura Jordan is hilarious in her role as Matilda---the woman who is insightful enough to communicate with cats, but can’t quite handle communicating effectively with humans.

This is a stellar production on all levels.  The minimalist white house-frame set (designed by Tobin Ost) serves multiple purposes and provides creative flexibility throughout the entire play. The pace is nimble and fluid and well staged by Director Samuel Buggelin.

OK, I’ll admit it; I came home and was particularly nice to our two cats.