Review: “Grasses of a Thousand Colors” with Gideon Media

Written by Wallace Shaun and directed by Andre Gregory, “Grasses of a Thousand Colors” is an audio play in six parts that follows Ben (Played by Wallace Shaun) who invents a special food product known as grain-1 that transforms the diet of life on Earth for all animals, including humans.  As this grain spreads throughout the world and causes some unusual behavior, we follow Ben as he goes about his life in this strange new world with newfound animalistic sexual urges and relationships on the brink of collapse

This story is truly epic in scale. Spanning three hours, six episodes, and may decades, the story of Ben feels vast. And you are on the edge of your seat for every moment. Shaun is incredibly captivating as Ben. Going into these novel-like descriptions and inner monologues, he paints these elaborate pictures so brilliantly that you are lulled into a sense of incredible calm. That is, until you realize what he is actually recounting.

Coming out of a global pandemic, it’s hard to mistake the familiar signs of a brewing global disaster. And while I don’t know if that is what Shaun intended, it is incredibly powerful. The whole piece circles the drain of immense doom on a scale that even post-covid we cannot truly grasp. It covers this creeping dread with intense physical and emotional desire wrapped up in a dream-like state. All of the supporting actors do a great job as well. We often interrupt the main story to get insight from one of them or the other and each interruption is welcomed.

While the play is intensely sexual and descriptive in that sexuality, it never feels crude or out of place. Every sexual moment is handled with the utmost sincerity, which makes even the strangest of sex scenes (and there are a good many strange ones) feel beautiful and intimate. The play very expertly sets up this post-grain 1 world to be one of more animalistic tendencies when it comes to sex. People are more open to it and even discuss and engage in sex out in the open on the regular. This is subtly woven into the beginning of the play in a way that sets up the world we eventually find ourselves in to not be strange in its sexuality but profoundly moving and frightening at the same time.

The relationships that develop over the course of this play between Ben and his wife, Ben and his girlfriend, among others, are all expertly crafted. This play, is carried by these interactions and we are often pulled far away from the initial story of the grain 1. Where the play really shines is when we get deeper and deeper into the relationships that Ben has crafted for himself between all of the people in his life and the gradual but intense loneliness he starts to feel.

Overall, “Grasses of a Thousand Colors” is a beautifully written epic tale with spectacular voice acting and sound design. The voices will lull you to a sense of calm but the dread that surrounds the piece will snatch you back to life. It’s a story about relationships, desire, and loneliness told through a medium already exceptionally lonely. A beautiful piece that I hope will get the opportunity to return to the stage soon.

“Grasses of a Thousand Colors” was a six-part audio drama presented by Gideon Media. It was written by Wallace Shawn and directed by Andre Gregory.

It stars Wallace Shawn, Jennifer Tilly, Julie Hagerty, and Emily Cass McDonnell

Composer and sound designer: Bruce Odland