Hanging by the End of The Leash – Review by Greg Cantrell

“Hanging by the End of the Leash,” by Amanda S. Cherry, starts with a promising recipe and ingredients – a female veteran with a medical condition, an adorable service dog, some monologue and stand-up, and “real life” skits to help tell the story of what it is like to navigate this world with a service dog. This recipe promised to shed some comedic light using Buster Brown, the service dog, with his master, Amanda Cherry. While the recipe was intriguing, the final dish was disappointing and flat, lacking the necessary spices.

There was a promise of humor. Unfortunately, while Amanda Cherry’s dating experiences may have been amusing, they came across as just another failed dating connection.

The supporting cast, utilized for the depiction of the real-life events in Ms. Cherry’s life, were Sarah Barber as Amanda, and Teddi Castillo, Mario Lozoya and Victor Castillo. It was difficult to rate their performances as their material was mostly flat, though they did try to inject humor into their performances.

The rest of the performance was marred by two major issues. First, Ms. Cherry in her monologue/stand-up, delivered it like an overly long informercial for service animals, while managing to deride those that have emotional support animals (ESA’s). Second, she continually emphasized the rudeness of asking a person with a disability which disability they have, but at the end of the show, she announced her medical condition, contradicting a message she had delivered more than once.

Amanda is earnest, well intentioned, and has an important message, however, the message recipe needs tweaking.