"Between Us" at TheatreFIRST

TheatreFIRST photo (uncredited)

Something new for me: I got invited by TheatreFIRST to attend the opening of their new play(s) as "press." It's kind of cool to find myself sitting in a row toward the back of the audience with several real theater critics. Not that what I do is actually theater criticism in any formal sense, but at least on the scale of TheatreFIRST, I have an audience, so they wanted me to see the shows early for once, in hopes that I might encourage some of you to come, too.

So I want to reassure you that this won't make any difference in how I approach discussing the show(s), which actually seems timely, since I'm going to have to be a little different about Between Us, just because it's a rather unusual way to present theater, as you'll soon notice.

The Premise

First, we're not talking about a play. Between Us is a suite of seven solo plays around a loose theme. I've written before about the unique mission and approach taken by the current edition of TheatreFIRST about equity and inclusion and local artists and such. That's all there in this production, but with some additional twists. TheatreFIRST doesn't rest on just being different; they want you to feel the difference, right down to your core.

As noted, it's not a play, it's seven plays. All seven are solo plays, meaning a single actor portrays a character in the first person. There is a mixture of self-narration and live action, and for the most part, it works fine. All seven plays are distinct: each could easily stand alone, though each is on average about a half-hour long. So they come packages as two separate programs (cleverly labelled "Program A" and "Program B").

The unifying theme, such as it is, it the portrayal of revolutionaries, meaning either people actually leading large-scale social change or simply people living in key moments in history. So seven local playwrights have selected and tackled seven subjects, at least five of whom are real figures from history, and the rest who are composites.

The Execution

 The two programs, A and B, run as separate presentations. Program A contains four plays, and B contains three. On weeknight evenings, the two rotate in repertory. On weekends, both programs play each day: one in an afternoon matinee and the other in the evening. Discounts are available for those who want to see both programs.

Yesterday's opening, being a Sunday, consisted of Program A in the afternoon and Program B in the evening. There was plenty of time to wander down into North Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto" between programs, which gave an opportunity to reflect and get some tasty food.

Seven plays is a lot. But here at Too Much Theater, that's what we look for. And in fact, because the shows come in sort of manageable chunks, it's not as overwhelming as you might think.

Keeping in mind that all seven of the plays are still new and basically under development, it comes as no surprise that there is a bit of variety in the quality of both the writing and the productions. Layer on that the fact that there is a real difference in the experience levels of the artists in the different plays, and it stands to reason that some of the pieces come out more polished than others.

The Plays: Program A

No way am I going to do justice to any of the individual plays here. I will give only very brief descriptions to give an idea, and try to point to some of the better bits.

The first show in Program A is Laveau: A Conjuring of Marie Laveau by Brit Frazier. Marie Laveau was known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, and as portrayed by Dezi Solèy under the direction of Margo Hall, she demonstrates the power of a woman willing to exercise unconventional methods to operate on her own terms. At some point the almost constant voodoo practice distracts a bit from the overall message, but Laveau is a terrific character to introduce the theme of the show. I learned a lot about Laveau and her story, and the portrayal is quite solid.

Next up is Seven Fingers: The Story of Larry Itliong by Jeffrey Lo, who also directs Mike Sagun in the title role. Itliong was the organizer of the Filipino migrant farm workers who eventually overcame their differences with their Mexican counterparts to form a unified and effective farm workers union. Sagun's portrayal of Itliong is both charming and touching, and the overall message works really well. As we stepped out for a brief intermission, I heard several comments about the power and intensity of the two opening plays.

Following the intermission comes Katie May's play Pussy Hat: The Story of One Woman's March, starring Jennie Brick under the direction of Phoebe Moyer. Brick is wonderfully appealing as an unassuming sort of reluctant warrior, driven to act by the confluence of her personal story (cancer) and the political environment (the 2016 elections). This story takes some unexpected turns, and thereby manages to be both more poignant and striking than it initially seemed it would be.

And finally we got Just One Day: A Story of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy by Cleavon Smith, featuring Sam Jackson as a single working woman struggling with the decision of whether to take off for the first official observance of the MLK federal holiday, even though her employer threatens to fire anyone who does so. This piece struggles a bit to find its feet, in part I think because we don't really get to know enough about either the main character or the few others in her life. I was disappointed because this was probably the piece I most wanted to like, having some personal connections to MLK and the fight over his holiday. It may still come through, but it still needs work.

Overall, Program A is very strong. All of the first three pieces present compelling characters with important stories to tell, and really take us through their journeys.

The Plays: Program B

Coming back from a stroll and a bite to eat, I'm ready for some more good stuff. Program B having only three plays, I'm expecting it to go quickly.

First up is La Profesora: The Story of Nibia Sabalsagaray, written and directed by Noelle Viñas and featuring Virginia Blanco. The story itself is painful and compelling, about a 24-year-old teaching prodigy who was tortured and killed by the military regime that ruled Uruguay in the 1970s. Of the seven plays, this one feels the least complete. It eventually settles into a pretty compelling narrative about reconciling oneself to relatives who collaborated (or worse) with the oppressive regime, but the early part of the script is an awkward presentation of an awkward sort of exit interview that just seems to wander in search of a path to the story it wants to tell. I'm OK with the character struggling to tell the story, but the narrative in which she's portrayed she seems to be struggling even to get through the struggles. The material here is good, but the writing still needs some work.

Next we get Turning the Page: The Story of Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, by Jeanne Sakata, directed by Jeffrey Lo and featuring Heidi Kobara. This one is a story about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II (as subject we've seen last year at TheatreFIRST and elsewhere). It's a little difficult to evaluate this one, as Kobara really didn't seem to have mastered the text, so there were a lot of stumbles and repetitions. The story as written is interesting, though, as Aiko goes from being interned as a teen to a career as a medical secretary who is obsessed with researching the history of internment, eventually discovering important documents in the national archives. I think this will eventually settle into a much better piece, but as I saw it yesterday, it was just not ready for prime time.

Finishing up the evening was The Racket: The Story of Smedley Butler, a historical piece by the brothers Tracy (James Tracy and his brother, TheatreFIRST Artistic Facilitator Jon Tracy), directed by Robert Parsons and performed by Aaron Murphy. This is an appropriate bookend to the day, as it is, like Laveau at the start of the day, a complex, polished, and intricate production of a provocative story about an interesting historical figure. Butler was a soldier, a Marine, eventually a general, and then later deeply involved in politics, the Bonus March, campaigning for FDR, and then being recruited by Wall Street to lead a military coup against FDR. It's fascinating to see the portrayal of this very complicated character. Given the rough presentations of the two preceding pieces, it's a good way to close out the show.

The Overall Impression

As you would expect of a collection of seven discrete plays, all still under development, there are various degrees of completion and effectiveness. All of the pieces have potential, and a majority deliver strong emotional and intellectual punches. The focus on individuals as both the movers and the moved at key moments in history is fascinating, and the chosen characters and situations are all worthy subjects.

It's a little disappointing to see several of the plays not really ready for opening night, and the overall balance between the two parts of the program isn't very even at this point. Program A is really very good, all the way through, but Program B really only has one solid play at this stage. This is one of the reasons I generally avoid going to plays so early in the run. On the other hand, they did announce that if there are open seats at future showings of the same program, one's ticket would be good for free admission. So I'd be intrigued to go see how Program B looks in a couple of weeks, for example.

Maybe the Best Part

I do need to mention that in the introductory speech before each program, Artistic Facilitator Jon Tracy mentions that TheatreFIRST has been doing some youth outreach on the subject of revolutionaries, including sending a playwright to Berkeley High to develop their own interpretations of the revolutionary theme. Apparently ninety students participated, and Tracy brought two or three to present their 2-3 minute solo presentations. Those might have been the most compelling part of the entire day, and they speak well of TheatreFIRST's efforts to reach out into parts of the community not normally included in theater.

Bottom Line

Man, this is a lot to cover! Seven separate pieces is a lot to absorb in one day, but I'd say the separate programs are pretty reasonable lengths. And the full-day weekend presentation manages not to overwhelm, given an intermission and a break between programs.

I would say at this stage that Program A is most definitely worth seeing, and Program B will probably get there soon. TheatreFIRST is showing once again that they not only aren't afraid to take on difficult projects, but in fact are actively seeking them out and attacking them with great vigor. It's hard to develop new works, and obviously harder to develop a bunch of them at once. On the other hand, they are providing valuable exposure and experience for a lot of artists.

I'm looking forward to seeing what these pieces turn into over time. I plan to go back and see each part again later. There is definitely a lot of good stuff in this pair of programs already, and the potential is there to be truly compelling. These are seven stories well worth telling, and well worth hearing.

Best of 2017

I've been told that one of the requirements, now that I do a Theater Blog, is that I must commemorate the end of the year by doing a "Best Of" post to say what was best this year. Since 2017 was my first full year of Theater Blogging (Yep...we started in May of 2016!), this will be the first time I can really look back over a year of posts and opine on what really stuck with me, which is my criterion for "Best Of". Unless I decide it isn't. Stay tuned.

I will preface this with a side note that on the whole, 2017 was not a good year for me at all. Personally and professionally, this year has actually kind of sucked, and even my frequent respite at the ballpark was not its usual pick-me-up. But for the most part, theater--and particularly theater people--has truly kept me going. On the whole, the friends I have made through going to the theater and being involved with theater are some of the most positive, supportive people I have ever known. You know who you are, and thanks for being there for me.

Now then, theater stuff...

Best Plays/Productions

These are the plays that really stuck with me, for one reason or another. I'll list them in the order I saw them. No other ranking is implied unless I say so. I will include links to my original postings for each of them, in case you missed my musings the first time or just want to see if I lost my mind in between or something.

If I can find a theme to my "best" list, it's mostly that they almost all manage to tackle an issue that is pertinent to the day and explore it in a non-obvious way. 

"Hamlet" at Shotgun Players

Fortunately, the repertory portion of Shotgun's 2016-2017 season ended in January, and much of what I saw in January was more Hamlet. I believe I ended up seeing it about 18 times, with only one repeat casting. The shuffling of actors was amazing to watch and very educational. I learned a great deal about Hamlet and about theater from watching these shows, and my only regret is that I didn't manage to go more often. The seven actors plus one understudy deserve medals for performing in this show. And extra medals for the fact they were also performing in at least one additional repertory show each. It was just an extraordinary experience, the likes of which we are not likely to see on a Bay Area stage again any time soon.

"John" at ACT

This was the first show I felt really showed off the value of ACT's new second stage at the Strand Theater. The show was quirky, but it really kept me thinking about it for quite some time, and that's what good theater is about.

"Leni" at Aurora

Once again showing my fondness for the intimacy of small theater spaces, this little show in Aurora's second space really showcased the talents of actors Stacy Ross and Martha Brigham and brought some history to life in a thoughtful and timely way. It was an innovative and thought-provoking show, well directed by Jon Tracy.

"Sisters Matsumoto" at Center Rep

This was a very powerful and beautifully staged performance of a story that really resonated. Particularly having just seen TheaterFIRST's Beneath The Tall Tree, which also dealt with Japanese American internment, it was moving and thought-provoking and made me aware of aspects of that period and its aftermath that I hadn't been aware of.

"The Events" at Shotgun Players

My buddies at Shotgun really kind of went off the rails on some things these past couple of years. Staging The Events requires a different community choir on stage for each performance. As such, it was informative to see the play more than once (and I did). Not only did this help cement for me the value of seeing plays more than once (I also saw Hamilton for the second time around the same point), but it made me appreciate both the difficulty of incorporating different outside groups into a play and what that actually means to this particular show. This is a tough but important and certainly timely play about the resilience of both individuals and communities to sudden, shocking events.

 "As You Like It" at CalShakes

As the only comedy on the list, this seems a little odd (note that I have a separate section for comedies later). But I was moved and surprised by this CalShakes production. I usually don't expect much thought to ensue from a Shakespearean comedy, but Desdemona Chiang's interpretation of this play of mistaken identity broadened the issue to cover personal and gender identity, and did so smoothly in a fine production. This was also the start of a very strong season for CalShakes.

"Grandeur" at The Magic Theater

I went into this play knowing almost nothing about it, and left absolutely stupefied. Carl Lumbly exceeded even the lofty expectations I have of him, and the play was riveting. It's not earth-shakingly important, but it shows just how effective a small play can be. I was extremely fortunate to be sitting in the front row, in the seat closest to the chair where Lumbly sat for much of the play, so I got to watch him up close, and it was amazing.

"Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles" at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

I would normally expect at least a couple of plays from our summer jaunts to Ashland to land on the "Best Of" list for a year, but this year wasn't overall that impressive up there. But Mojada was a knockout. The adaptation of the well-worn story of Medea is almost obvious in retrospect. The portrayal of undocumented immigrants trying to assimilate (or not) and the consequences for them personally and socially is excruciating, but very effective.

"An Octoroon" at Berkeley Rep

Everybody's trying to push your buttons this year, but this time Berkeley Rep got it right. It's a super complex script, as you might expect from a hotshot playwright who has won just about every award imaginable. What I didn't expect was that Berkeley Rep would find the right director and cast, and that that director would be Eric Ting, who had previously disimpressed me with his direction of Othello at CalShakes. This production was pretty much spot-on. We're still talking about it, almost six months later.

"black odyssey" at CalShakes

I would never have guessed at the start of the year that Eric Ting would direct even one, let alone two, of my favorite productions. But here he was, coming right off the triumph that was An Octoroon, directing local playwright Marcus Gardley's wonderful adaptation of "The Odyssey" into a story of African American life. And it packed the Bruns Amphitheater every show, bringing in rafts of people who do not normally make the trek to Orinda to see a play. This was terrific storytelling.

"The Farm" at TheatreFIRST

Another artist making his second appearance on the list is Jon Tracy. Having directed Leni for Aurora earlier in the year, he also re-adapted his adaptation of Orwell's "Animal Farm" for TheatreFIRST, and the result was delightful and moving. This modest production reminded us that we don't have to be big and fancy to tell an important story. The reboot of TheatreFIRST is having sort of uneven results, but The Farm was definitely a sign of what a dedicated bunch of theater artists can do with limited resources.

Comic Relief

Most of the plays that really stuck with me this year were dramas. Maybe it fit the rhythm of my own life, which had way too much drama in it this year. But there were funny plays that made an impression on me, and they deserve some recognition, even if they weren't overall the "best" things I saw this year.

"Noises Off!" at SF Playhouse

This is one of those kind of classic plays that I had always heard of by never seen. I love the intricacy of the plotting and staging, and felt that for once, the rotating stage at SF Playhouse really was an asset. And the play is just screamingly funny, both because of all the theater in-jokes and because of some real character development. I liked both the play and the production here very well.

"The Play That Goes Wrong " at Lyceum Theatre (NYC)

This play isn't nearly as deep as Noises Off!, but the production we saw in New York this fall was absolutely the funniest thing I've seen on stage in a long, long time. The comedic timing and the convoluted set design were truly impressive. I needed a good laugh, and this provided it.

Spectacles

This is a category I just made up to salute the shows that just make you drop your jaw a bit at the stagecraft. There were some pretty over-the-top productions out there, even if they weren't among the shows that I deemed "best" overall.

"Needles and Opium" at ACT
"Monsoon Wedding" at Berkeley Rep
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" at ACT
"The Black Rider" at Shotgun Players

I won't go into them in detail again. Suffice it to say that in each case I was less than delighted with the play, the message, the storytelling, or something. But in each case the stagecraft, design, music, dancing, lights, and so on were dazzling and worth recognizing.

Musicals

I saw a fair number of musicals this year, but none that really rose to the level of "best"-ness required to make the big list. But I thought I should mention the ones that stood out, because musicals can be special in their own right, and if they are your thing, this is important.

"Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site" at Bay Area Children's Theater
"Hamilton" (touring) at SHN San Francisco
"La Cage Aux Folles" at SF Playhouse

Other

I can't think of a category it really fits into, but Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music at the Curran was like nothing I have ever seen before. I realize now that I never got around to writing up the portions of the show that I saw (I saw only the first two 6-hour segments, so didn't feel I could really comment on the show as a whole). This mash-up of musical theater, cabaret, drag show, and history lesson amazed me on a bunch of different levels. The subversive way Taylor Mac gets into the heads and under the skins of the audience while knocking out a really impressive array of popular tunes in ways probably never seen or conceived before just boggles the mind.

I truly have no words to describe the whole experience, and in any strict definition, it's not really "theater" per se, but it is, too. And it probably stuck with me more than any other performance I saw this year, so it needed to be included here.

Personal Bests

If you'll allow me to conclude with a moment of self-indulgence, there were two other productions that were particularly meaningful to me personally this year, so I just get to put them in the "Best Of" post as kind of a footnote.

My Professional Stage Debut

Yes, those loons at the Shotgun Players not only allow me to sit on their board, they also offered me a tiny role in their staged reading of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead last January. And hey, we sold out and got extended, so I had three glorious nights on stage with a bunch of real, professional actors, and I have the check to prove it.

This makes the list not because I was any great revelation on stage or because it changed my life or anything like that. But there were two important takeaways from  the experience: One, I got to see firsthand, close-up, just how real theater artists work. Rehearsing, dressing, blocking, designing and redesigning--all of it. It was glorious. And it gives me all the more respect for the work these people do, day in and day out, to produce these plays that I enjoy so much. But just as important, two, after seeing me onstage, my daughter said, "Well if Dad can do that, I can do that." And promptly signed up for her first real staged play.

Which obviously leads me to...

"Assassins" at Berkeley Playhouse Teen Stage

About six months after my little dalliance on stage, there was my daughter, singing and dancing and trying (futilely) to shoot Gerald Ford on the stage in the Julia Morgan Theater. It's still not one of my favorite plays ever, but she got out of it exactly what I hoped: she found a wonderful community of like-minded, creative, accepting people who share a love of making theater and support each other while they do it. She's now working on her second show, already signed up for another, and planning one more for the summer.

Which just goes to show, we can always handle more theater, so we obviously haven't reached the mythical "Too Much Theater" yet, and the quest must continue.

"The Farm" at TheatreFIRST

I read George Orwell's "Animal Farm" in my freshman English class in high school. The book is a very accessible introduction to a number of different aspects of literature, including political satire and extended metaphor. By portraying the characters with different kinds of animals, Orwell provides a richness to his characterizations beyond the individual personas he creates. Not only do we understand some of the sub-groupings of individuals on the farm, but we impute characteristics to those groups based on our knowledge of the animals.

This works great on the page, but I wondered how it would translate to the stage. A few years before I hooked up with the Shotgun Players, they had produced Jon Tracy's adaptation of "Animal Farm" called The Farm, but I missed it. As luck would have it, the opening show of TheatreFIRST's current season is a revived and updated rendition of The Farm.

The Play

The script stays pretty close to the story thread of the book, at least as I recall it. The animals, tired of working for the farmer only to end up slaughtered, rise up and drive out the farmer, taking over the running of the farm for themselves. They set up an egalitarian collectivist structure with a set of seven precepts or commandments, which they paint on the wall for all to see (even those who can't read). The most important and memorable of these is the dictate that "All animals are equal," along with "Four legs good; two legs bad."

As the story progresses and the ideals of the revolutionary animals meets up with the reality of running a farm, behavior seems to diverge from the commandments of Animalism, but it turns out that the commandments themselves have been altered, too. And no one can quite recall when or how that happened, but somehow there are now conditions and modifiers on the very straightforward original laws.

The longer we go, the clearer it becomes that the pigs are running the farm for their benefit, much as the humans had, even to the point that they are making deals with the neighboring human farms. And by the end of the story, the pigs have become essentially indistinguishable from the humans, and have subjugated all the other animals. Indeed, some animals are more equal than others.

The Production

On a rather dark, stark stage with some nondescript structure to suggest fencing or pens, the animals arrive. Rather than creating elaborate costumes, each type of animal has a sort of uniform suggesting their species. The horses, for example, wear tan work coveralls and boots. The sheep have woolly sweaters, and so on. What I found particularly effective was the small behaviors that each animal affected, perhaps most notably Clover the horse (Anna Joham), who had a distinctive way of tossing her head and pawing the ground that was quite equine. The designers (particularly costume designer Miyuki Bierlein) and co-directors (Michael Torres and Elena Wright) have done a terrific job of making the visuals subtle, yet evocative. That's good, because the story is a pretty blunt instrument, and trying to accurately present animals or a farm would probably distract from the point of the play.

Adapter Jon Tracy has taken the ordinary prose of Orwell's story and converted it into something more like a poem, with snappy little rhymes and rhythms that keep it flowing and show a cleverness without overwhelming the flow of the story. It's only occasionally that the language draws attention to itself, but when it does it's generally to good effect. Similarly, the insertion of little songs, chants, and raps flow pretty seamlessly. Much as the pigs' conniving to distort the messages of Animalism to their own ends is done in such as way that the other animals either don't notice or are powerless to oppose it, Tracy's adaptations of the story fit so neatly that one almost doesn't notice that some dialogue has morphed into rhyme until it goes somewhere else, and you find yourself thinking "well, that was neat!"

There are other good touches, such as the use of the revolutionary hog, Old Major (Anthony Frederick Aranda). His imposing figure introduces the animals to the idea of rising up, but his early demise removes him from the immediate action, though he remains an inspiration and a touchpoint (either his memory or his physical skull). The production handles that by having Old Major linger in the background, beating a drum off and on, maintaining his presence throughout. And every time the wise donkey, Benjamin (Dean Koya), tries to point out that the pigs are violating the precepts of Animalism, someone points out that he is an ass.

The Bottom Line

I was really impressed with this production. The acting ensemble is very strong. I haven't called out many of the individuals, largely because they function so well as a collective. It's not that there aren't good performances, but more that no one really dominate the story or the audience's attention. The ringleader of the pigs, Napolean (Tierra Allen) is very good, but not in a way that outshines the rest of the pigs or the other animals, and indeed, that's kind of the message of the story.

TheatreFIRST has done a good job of creating a balanced, diverse cast and crew, in keeping with their mission. I have a little qualm about whether "The Farm" really fits their stated goal of "amplifying marginalized stories," given how well-known the source material is. And really, critiques of communism and socialism are hardly marginalized in Berkeley! That said, it is definitely a fresh, lively take on the story, and the creativity of both the adaptation and the staging are clear.

This is a show that deserves to be seen, not so much because people need to see "Animal Farm" on stage, but more because it shows how powerfully a creative group can take a familiar story and turn it into something fresh and relevant without having to produce a giant, flashy spectacle. Indeed, it's refreshing to see the story kind of stripped down to its essence, with the effort placed on character and nuance instead of realism and flash.

And for once, I saw a show early enough in its run that I can recommend that you go to see it. The show runs through November 11, and ticket prices are very reasonable. It's well worth a trip to the Live Oak Theater to see this one.

"HeLa" at TheatreFIRST

There is almost too much to say about this play and this production. I saw it two days ago, and I still have a lot of thoughts bouncing around in my head about it, but I really want to get it written down because there are only three more performances of this play, coming up this weekend, and I suspect some of you might want to see it.

HeLa is the fourth and final production of the premiere season of the new incarnation of TheatreFIRST, so it provides a chance to look at where they've come as a company this year, as well as looking at a very interesting play.

The Play

Inspired by the story of Henrietta Lacks, Bay Area playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Geetha Reddy have produced what they call "The PoeticScientific DreamFate of Henrietta Lacks," which goes a long way toward explaining the somewhat odd narrative structure of the piece. Time and reality are both quite fluid in this play, from the outset.

The opening scene has the young mother Henrietta washing dishes while her 2-year-old daughter, Deborah, tries to avoid going to bed. It's a pretty simple domestic scene, except Deborah is narrating it from sometime in the future, looking back to an early event that she probably can't even remember. Henrietta is soon joined by her adoring husband, and they talk about things: their five children, their life. It's a simple image of a loving family life. But soon we are interrupted by Henrietta learning that she has advanced cervical cancer, and the doctor is not encouraging, rather mechanically telling her that she is going to die, though they will do what they can.

That's pretty much the last even remotely sympathetic interaction Henrietta will have with the medical establishment. Her treatment is ineffective, but painful (as is the cancer, of course). In the course of her dying in the hospital, researchers will routinely take samples of her cancerous tissues. It's routine (for them), but the cells are not. It turns out Henrietta has really special cancer cells that are, essentially, immortal. This is a great boon for researchers, for all kinds of reasons alluded to in the course of the play.

Henrietta dies, but her cancer cells live on in laboratories around the world, becoming the most popular cells for scientific research ever. The thing is, they are identified only as "HeLa," so soon no one remembers or knows who the cells came from.

Through the rest of the play, "Henrietta" follows those cells through various kinds of research projects, such as Jonas Salk developing his polio vaccine, early space flight, and much more. Some of the scenes are quite humorous, others touching, some irritating or inflammatory. And through it all we see and hear Henrietta's frustration that she is unknown and unacknowledged, and bitter that people are making loads and loads of money off her cells, while she (obviously) and her family get no payment or benefit at all.

So we have a number of themes here: identity and recognition through time; the rights of patients and (perhaps) their survivors vis-a-vis material taken from the body of the patient (with or without consent or, perhaps, knowledge); the attitudes of medical practitioners and researchers toward patients and subjects; consent and coercion in general. All important. But the "elephant in the room" here is race. Because Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman of modest means, and virtually everyone else involved (doctors, researchers, etc.) are white and mostly male.

The Production

The narrative is a bit difficult to comprehend, particularly early, as characters morph almost instantaneously, so one isn't quite sure whether the actor speaking is still the same character as last spoke. On some level, I suspect that is intentional, that the point is they are all in some ways the same, so we are feeling some of the discomfort and confusion that Henrietta and her family feel. On another hand, from a historical perspective it actually makes a difference whether everyone treats Henrietta badly, or only some people do. But that doesn't seem to be a concern of the play.

Anyway, the three core members of the Lacks family, Henrietta, her husband, and her daughter Deborah (played respectively by Jeunee Simon, Khary Moye, and Desiree Rogers) are all solid. The rest of the ensemble are also good. Sarah Mitchell has a couple of memorable turns, particularly as a canine cosmonaut. Richard Pallaziol drew the short straw and gets to portray all of the white, male medical personnel, so spends much of the play being smarmy, condescending, and/or dismissive. Akemi Okamura gets a couple of chances to be the conscience of the medical crew, but those bits are fleeting.

The staging is intentionally simple. It's all set on an empty, black stage, with occasional props brought in. Throughout, the back wall is illuminated by a sort of sculpture made up of translucent balls, illuminated in various effective ways (kudos to lighting designer Stephanie Anne Johnson), always looking like a bunch of cells, which is really the center of the story.

My main criticism of the production is that it's pretty single-note. Admittedly, the source material is pretty sparse, but instead of filling in with a variety of different kinds of scenes and reactions, we pretty much get Henrietta feeling forgotten and unacknowledged n every context. While it may be true that she was essentially instantly forgotten by all but her family, that doesn't leave much room for plot and character development. So by the time we've seen 20 or 30 minutes of the play, we've gotten pretty much the whole message. There's a little more toward the end when some of the family is drawn back in, but on the whole, we've got the story almost complete early on.

The TheaterFIRST Experiment

When TheatreFIRST re-formed last year, their stated mission was to use storytelling to amplify marginalized voices and give a larger community a larger voice. But they also talk about "telling the world’s stories through multiple, simultaneous viewpoints," and that seems to be missing in HeLa. We get Henrietta's viewpoint throughout, and no one could dispute that hers, as with so many of her contemporaries, was a marginalized voice. It's great to have her story told from her perspective.

Unfortunately, that telling doesn't feel like it's fair to some of the other actors in the story. Most of the medical professionals come across more as caricatures than as characters. The researcher who orders his assistant to obtain more samples, even though it will cause even more pain to the dying woman, flat out says he doesn't care, that he needs those cells for his research. He's not quite twisting his mustache and cackling, but it almost comes across that way. There is little sense that anyone gives more than lip service to balancing the question of the individual patient/subject and the possible good the research might provide to society as a whole. It would possible to portray Henrietta as being wronged without having to portray everyone who wrongs her as being greedy, egotistical, racist and heartless. A bit more subtlety to the message would make this a better and more broadly accessible play. At least two people in my party found this portrayal to be extremely off-putting, even offensive.

That said, the play clearly resonates with a big swath of the audience. And I have to say that the audience for the Sunday matinee we saw had far more people of color in it than I generally see at any theater, and judging superficially I'd say the audience was probably less affluent than is the norm. And during the play I saw many of them nodding in agreement and recognition of circumstances, some even vocalizing during the play. And that's all great: these are people who rarely get to see people like them portrayed on stage. I'm elated to see them coming to hear stories they can relate to. But there is also an opportunity to at least introduce other viewpoints as well, to create a dialogue, and that's what was missing.

At the discussion following the performance, nearly all of the "questions" from the audience were really just thanks and praise. Which is fine as far as it goes, but that's the prescription for an echo chamber. In part I attribute the lack of interaction to the fact that many in the audience are not accustomed to attending theater, much less discussing with the cast afterward. But telling a story that doesn't result in people wanting to dispute or question or add on or something suggests that the story is too finely tuned to a particular audience. Getting new people into the theater is a good first step. Really engaging them, though, is what really defines art, and HeLa isn't there yet.

One thing that struck me in the discussion after was a comment by one of the cast that there was a lot more material written than was included in the show. They picked and chose scenes that they felt worked best. It would be interesting to know whether some of the other scenes might have provided some contrast or variety of viewpoint, which would have made the show overall stronger. Hard to know without knowing what those scenes are, of course.

Bottom Line

The play tells an interesting, if limited, story, and the production is of remarkably high quality for a world premiere that is really still in development. And it's enlightening for a frequent theater attendee like me to get immersed in a very different sort of audience now and then. It's good to see how they react and what they react to. Every theater person I talk to is always talking about how to expand the base of people who go to theater. TheatreFIRST seems to have found at least one part of an answer. The next question is, how do you get them to come back for another story that might not be so finely tuned to them.

I'm glad to see that such a new and rather radically different theater company has been as successful as they have been in their inaugural season. I look forward to seeing both their productions and their audience develop.

Should you see HeLa? Probably. There are lots of good theatrical bits, even if I don't find the overall story that compelling. But it's good to see how it is reaching some people quite effectively. Seeing this has definitely got me thinking about some new things, and that's always good.

"Beneath the Tall Tree" at TheatreFIRST

I'm really intrigued by a lot of things about TheatreFIRST. This was the first mainstage production I've been able to get to following their provocative reading of "The Island" last year. There are a lot of things appealing about TheatreFIRST, particularly their commitment to diversity at all levels (staff, board, actors, designers, etc.) and their commitment to new, local work.

The Company

There are several things that are different about going to TheatreFIRST. Although they're still in the old Live Oak Theater, they've spiffed it up a bit, and simplified the lobby. The box office and concession table is staffed by friendly people. And I was lucky enough when I stepped into the house to be greeted by both Artistic Directory Jon Tracy (who is a friend) and the production's directory, Joy Carlin, whose work I know, but we hadn't met previously.

And when Tracy welcomes the crowd before the show starts, it's not just the legally-required direction to the exits or the customary directive to turn off phones. He also talks a bit about TheatreFIRST and then picks a few people in the audience to ask why they have come, and share a little bit. It's unconventional, but it works, and it feeds into the ethic that this is not a unidirectional-message medium: we are all part of the show, and we will all get something different out of it, particularly as we all bring something different to it.

And at that point, the Live Oak Theater feels less like the old community theater in a local park, and more like a community center where people gather to share stories and experiences. That's a good vibe.

The Play

As with all plays in this new incarnation of TheatreFIRST, this play is new work, created through a collaborative residency with the artists. The goal is to help the community tell their stories and provide a venue where people can hear and share that. "Beneath the Tall Tree" is the third play of the first season of this new regime. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to the first two, and word through the grapevine was that they had some rather rough patches. So I tried to keep an open mind.

The good news is, for a brand new play, this is pretty strong. I had a few issues with the writing, particularly some awkward dialogue, but on the whole, it's a good effort for a new play. The basic material is both interesting and timely. It springs from the personal and community displacement caused by the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II. So many aspects of that incident (the use of an executive order, the targeting of a specific ethnic group, and so on). And here we get a multigenerational story about family, ethnicity, assimilation, discrimination, and a whole lot more.

Briefly, a young woman of mixed ancestry from Palo Alto (Cass, played by Adrienne Walters, who also wrote the play along with Jeffrey Lo) goes off to join an archaeological dig in Pompeii. While there, she learns that her beloved grandfather (Tets, played by Sam Stark) has died, touching off a string of events that lead to her uncover lots of information about herself, the grandfather, and her family and community. In Pompeii she meets Tom (Lucas Brandt), another student on the dig, and  develops her relationship with Professor Fowler (Bonnie Akimoto, who also plays Cass' mother back home). Although the overall story is compelling, none of the characters besides Cass really gets much development, although we at least learn a fair amount of Tets's story and see snippets of different parts of his life.

Unfortunately, Tom is pretty much just a plot device, and Professor Fowler is rather unbelievable. The mother is more sympathetic, but also pretty much of a cypher most of the time. I'd like to see more development of those characters and their stories.

But all that said, there is a lot of power in the story of Tetsuo's journey from his idealistic, baseball-loving youth, through internment and enlistment, to returning home to a very different Palo Alto than the one he left. The changes in him and the subsequent impacts on his family deserve more development, but the message is clear enough.

The Production

A simple set design manages to serve as home in Palo Alto, San Francisco International Airport, an archaeological site in Pompeii, a baseball field, and an internment camp. The fact that all the elements are always there on stage is pretty powerful, though rather subtle. There are probably some more nuances that could be brought out of that with lighting and such, but overall it works.

The acting is pretty good. Walters as Cass is pretty strong, and I suspect that's both because she wrote a lot of the script and because it is somewhat autobiographical (though I don't know to what degree). Stark's Tets is quite good in his younger incarnation, but less convincing as the older grandfather. Brandt is good as Tom, though some of his affectations early on seem to vanish later, inexplicably. I'm unclear what I'm supposed to make of Professor Fowler, who everyone seems to be afraid of except Cass. She seems to have an unexplained soft spot for the rather aggressive, even abrasive, Cass, even before she displays her preternatural skill at finding archaeological artifacts. I think that's more a problem with the text than the performance, though I imagine a clearer picture of the character could be constructed even from what's already there.

The character of the mother quite mystifies me. I'm not sure whether she's just repressing a lot of stuff, or whether she should be expressing more subtle nuances of her feelings. The common thread through Cass, her mother, and her grandfather seems to be an inability or unwillingness to express feelings (or even communicate much at all) until some threshold is passed and they explode. For all I know, that might be historically accurate, but it doesn't feel right on the stage, especially for all three characters. I'd like to see some gradations in the expressions there.

Bottom Line

Growing up in the bay area, I had a lot of friends whose families were directly affected by Executive Order 9066, and though my family wasn't one of those, they were aware of the neighbors and acquaintances who went away, some later returning. The internment and its aftermath are very real to many of my friends, family, and neighbors, so I'm pleased to see TheatreFIRST addressing it. And obviously the issues of racism, prejudice, interculturalism, and the injustices perpetrated when a group feels threatened are all very timely.

The production continues for another three weeks, through March 25th. I think it's well worth seeing, not only because it's interesting and pretty well done, but also because it's worth supporting TheatreFIRST and this effort to produce local stories for local audiences with diverse local talent.

I look forward to seeing more from TheatreFIRST.

Reading: "The Island" at TheatreFIRST

I'm not going to go into great detail about the reading I went to tonight. It was a benefit fundraiser for TheatreFIRST, kind of kicking off their new regime. But it is worth talking about the reading, too.

The Reading

This was a staged reading of Athol Fugard's 1973 anti-apartheid play, "The Island," with Carl Lumbly and Danny Glover recreating the roles they played in a full production of the play in 1977, this time under the direction of Delroy Lindo. The reading itself was fairly unspectacular, a very simple staging, and the actors with scripts in hand. But the power of the play came through to the packed house, and the star power on stage helped to pack the house in the first place.

Without going into too much detail, the play chronicles a slice of the lives of two black political prisoners in South Africa under the apartheid regime, and among the things they do is work on a two-man version of the trial of Antigone for a kind of prisoner talent show. For much of the play, this seems ridiculous, and the humor is used to good effect, but when it comes to actually performing it, the true subversive nature of the play comes through. The message of the disconnect between the legal and the just, the law of man and the law of god, resonates with these victims of apartheid.

So that was really cool, and the talk-back session afterward with the two actors (plus local actor Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, who read the stage directions during the reading) and the director was fascinating and wide-ranging over topics of art, politics, and social justice.

But all of this is really about promoting...

The Company

New Artistic Director Jon Tracy made no bones about this being a shameless ploy to attract money for the new direction of the TheatreFIRST company, but he made it well worthwhile by using the reading to provide an example of what TheatreFIRST is going to be about.

You can read all the details and mission statements and such at the TheatreFIRST website, but suffice it to say here that TheatreFIRST's new direction involves including a diverse body of artists at all points: artists, company, staff, board, etc., and creating new works written, directed, and performed by those artists and others locally. They aim to tell stories that don't normally get told, using artists that might not otherwise get heard and seen.

It's a very ambitious undertaking, and my description probably doesn't do it justice. But for all the talk of diversity and inclusion in theater (or mostly, about the lack thereof), this company intends to put their money where their mouth is.

I'm kind of excited to see what will come of this endeavor. They have grand ideas, and a lot of support from within the theater community. The proof will be in how they are accepted by the theater consumers, and how well they are able to expand that audience to include more people who, like many theater makers, are currently unrepresented or simply not present in any meaningful numbers.

Stay tuned. It's always exciting to see what happens when big ideas get a real try-out.