‘The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe’ @ Undermain Theatre
Photos by Paul Semrad
—Martha Heimberg
“I made some studies, and reality is the leading cause of stress,” reports happily crazy Trudy, the bag lady who stays in regular touch with aliens from her spot on the corner of Walk and Don’t Walk in Brooklyn. She’s the center of the charming chaos that is The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Jane Wagner’s mega-hit solo show written in 1985 for her wife Lily Tomlin, who won a Tony Award for her performance in 1986.
Guess what, stress is still rising, and the jury at the White House is still out on just what constitutes crazy. Anybody laughing?
Recent revivals of the show have received mixed reviews, mostly depending on the gifts and sheer stamina of the Earthling onstage for 150 minutes, and charged with making a case for humanity’s smarts and heart. (The actor does get a 15-minute intermission to rehydrate.)
Dallas’ own brainy powerhouse Marianne Galloway steps into the astral skin of a dozen characters, using Trudy as a conduit to deliver a personal take on what it’s like to be human at this moment in time and space. And sistahs, this gal reaches deep inside, projects in all directions, and sets the iconic columns trembling in Undermain Theatre’s basement playing space.
Ashley Puckett Gonzales again directs the show, a reprise of the 2024 production at WaterTower Theatre in Addison. In black pants and a glittery T-shirt and sporting a gender-neutral, half-shaved haircut, Galloway drops her bags on the concrete floor. She walks back and forth in front of the audience, her taut, muscled arms twitching as she pulls at the sleeve of her tight shirt.
“Going crazy was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she says in a raspy voice. But maybe Trudy’s not so crazy; maybe she’s a gifted mind reader keeping her finger lightly on the pulse of passersby — with a little help from her alien chums. I mean, she does know science has pretty much proven that “language evolved because of our deep need to complain.”
Galloway shifts voices, gestures and gait, as these various people talk to us — and each other, which they do before the evening’s done. Galloway is a touchingly funny teenage girl trying to make it as a punk performance artist, whose grandparents have locked her out of the house to teach her a lesson. The girl’s melodramatic temper tantrums are funny, but we also feel the desperate fear of a young woman alone on the streets. The grandparentsget a charming turn later on, as the two recall how making milk mustaches once brought the little family together. Gallagher is utterly convincing as all three characters in that scene.
The actor stares down her nose as a wealthy socialite, bitching in a sneer-inflected voice to the hapless hairdresser who’s ruined her life with a bad haircut. Can a rich matron die of boredom? Stick around, and watch her eyes widen in dismay when she finds a lost suicide note. Galloway’s two edgy prostitutes talking to each other are a hoot, and are they ever pissed when their ambitious pimp decides to make a documentary about “his” brilliant entrepreneurial career.
Galloway evokes the melting joy of love-at-first-sight as a romantic girl who falls for a dreamboat, and later must raise the exhausting, adorable twins she bears him—while maintaining her marketing career and working out in a Jazzercise class and getting dinner on the table. Galloway’s expert diction allows her to talk fast, never miss a kick, and still enunciate each word perfectly. Super-mom’s feminist friend is appalled to hear about her multi-tasking sacrifices, and we hear their telling conversation on both ends of the phone line.
True, the references to Howard Johnson’s color scheme, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, Bella Abzug and other 80’s activists do date the show—but time travel is time travel, and I thought the references were retro and fun. The program notes provide a list of such people and places, along with a brief definition, for younger (ahem) audience members who may not remember the details of these worthy Me Too ancestors.
Leah Mazur designed the long, angular set that permits Galloway to address her audience at eye-level for much of the show. The immediacy is increased by Becki McDonald’s evocative sound design and Steve Woods’ lighting, which subtly tracks the actor’s sudden character shifts. Hope Cox designed Galloway’s cool black outfit.
If you’ve never seen Galloway in action, you gotta see this show. If you have, for sure you wanna partake of that terrific energy and charisma once again. I’m thinking she loses five pounds per show, so get your tickets right away.
WHEN: June 11-28, 2026
WHERE: 3200 Main Street, Dallas (stairs/elevator to basement)
WEB: undermain.org
