In Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Robert Liebowitz has given the audience a very well written play based in what can be best described as hyper-realism. His tale of five addicted gamblers hits the audience with characters that they quickly recognize and, when they leave the theater, have some understanding of how they function. As each is character is detached from most empathy and completely from sympathy for the destructive behaviors of those they consider friends.The play is helped by an excellent cast. Irving Landau (Phil Oetiker) a retired(?) gambler is the first we meet. He spends all of his time, every day, in the home/shop of Domenic Butetta (Jim Fromewick), a bookmaker who takes bets everyday except weekends when his brother runs the book at another location. Pasquale Ciniglio (Oliver Clarke) is the twenty-year-old gambling addict who is ready to surrender a personal life to his habit but has not lost often enough to feel the pain that he is destined to meet. Allie “Triple X” Neiterman (Jeff Caplan) is the degenerate gambler convinced that his next big score will pull him out of the financial hole he has dug for himself and that somehow his next paycheck will allow him to clear his debts. He is supported by the friendship/partnership of Bobo Pressey (Steven Sparrow) who, although mentally challenged, will do anything for Allie, including taking a beating, and somehow seems more astute about gambling then his “good” friend. Finally, there is Barney Cutler, the neighborhood loan shark, who expects payment with interest when it is due and is not above using enforcement to set an example for others that might try to renege on timely payment.

As an extra treat we get Bod Feder as Laney Howard who spends the entire play playing solitaire at a small desk.Each character, save for Barney, seems to have a rather sophisticated understanding of what makes the others tick, but they will not raise a hand to help them avoid their fate. Even when they make a feeble attempt at correcting another character’s path toward destruction they never stand in that character’s way. When it clear that Pasquale is destroying his relationship with a girl who adores him, the others tell him to go to her, but also encourage his placing his next bet which leaves her deserted. When everyone knows that Allie has betrayed all of their trust and cannot pay Barney his loan, they still let him place another bet at a horse race and Dominic takes his bet on a football game as Pasquale provides him with advice on the line. Because he vouched for Allie to Barney and guaranteed the loan, Irving knows that he will be held responsible once Barney deals with Allie.

If there is a weakness in Liebowitz’s tale it is that he really does not provide the audience with a protagonist or a conclusion, but leaves the audience with a sense of inevitability of the destruction of each character’s soul. The person I went with is a Social Worker and she commented that these are the clients she sees every week and 4 days after the production let me know that she was still disturbed by it. An author can get no greater complement.

If I had one suggestion, it would be to shorten the title to simply “Shoulda” since none of the characters ever reflects on ‘woulda’ or ‘coulda’ and shoulda is an audience evaluation of the behaviors witnessed on stage.