“Native Gardens” by Karen Zacarías now in its West Coast premiere and playing on the Sheryl
and Harvey White stage at the Old Globe Theatre through June 24, directed by
Edward Torres is an equal opportunity offender; race, sex, entitlement, ageing,
culture, and immigration you name it. Both the gardens and the gardeners are up
for more than they can handle.
Imagine moving into an upscale neighborhood in an old
established area of D.C. and being stoked that you have the opportunity to fix
your garden any way you like since the only things growing are weeds and a huge
oak tree that drops acorns on the neighbors well manicured lawn?
Imagine those same next -door neighbors with a pristine English
style garden and feeling very above it all knowing how beautiful it is and all the
work gone into it?
Now imagine having to confront them about taking down the
fence that separates the two yards? To top it off some of the most treasured
plants in that garden will need removing as well.
Sounds like it could be a plot for some high drama and legal
wrangling or a great start for a sit-com bringing the two families, from two
very different backgrounds and cultures, separated by the fence as a
demilitarized zone, close to war.
In playwright Karen Zacarías’ “Native Gardens” the subject was definitely not roses.
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| Mark Pinter and Peri Gilpin |
Frank Butley (Mark Pinter) is the proud champion of an almost
first place winning formal English garden in his upscale historical neighborhood
in DC. He’s a devout Republican a semi-retired federal employee with
connections and has a love and passion for gardening. His son works in the
Library of Congress and Frank thinks he’s ‘homosexual’. And oh, BTW he ‘almost
voted for Obama’ in the last election.
His wife Virginia (Peri Gilpin), is supportive, not as Blue
Blood as Frank with same political leanings and feels just as entitled. She is
an engineer at Lockheed Martin. She broke the glass ceiling in her firm and
she’s not shy about letting us know. “I’ve been with them so long now, I have
my own bathroom”.
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| Kimberli Flores and Eddie Martinez |
On the Democratic side of the fence, a young and very pregnant couple, Tania Del Valle (Kimberli Flores) and Pablo Del Valle (Eddie Martinez)
are very excited to be in their very first house, a fixer upper.
He is originally from Chile and from a wealthy upper class family.
He is also the token foreigner and an up and coming lawyer in a big firm. He
has big plans for himself if he plays his cards right. She is from America before
New Mexico belonged to the U.S. (“I am American. I don’t speak very much
Spanish.”)
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| (L to R)Mark Pinter, Kimberli Flores, Eddie Martinez and Peri Gilpin |
She is also a doctoral student conducting some identity
experiments. She is doing her Doctoral in anthropology. She is also a member of
the Individual Gardeners of America. We ‘share in the responsibility in
helping biodiversity in our gardens. (Frank: “Native Gardens? Sounds very
exotic.”)
And so begins the gardening war of the neighbors but not
before Tanya and Pablo discover that two feet of Frank’s garden is on their
property.
Yup, the surveyors found, improbable that it was never
discovered over the years, but let’s go on that assumption, that the Butley’s
property line is well into their neighbor’s yard.
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| Kimberli Flores, Gardeners and Peri Gilpin |
Gardeners (Jose Balistrieri
and Alexander Guzman) come and go with their Boom Box, the chain link fence comes down, surveyors
forbid a new fence to be erected between properties (with a little pull from
Virginia’s influence) and a play about gardens and good neighbors devolves into
a shouting match about everything else including entitlements, ageing and
immigration.
On a scale of 1-10 the play becomes an opera of grand opera
proportions in slow motion (Mikhail Fiksel) that soon collides with cartoonish
play by play removing plants and hauling plants away, as the two couples duel
to the finish or when Tania goes into labor, in a highly choreographed dance of
the clashing neighbors.
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| Eddie Martinez, Peri Gilpin and Mark Pinter |
As mentioned the play isn’t really about property lines and
formal gardens. Zacarías uses it as a metaphor for privilege, nativism, race
and whatever else you might find offensive in her ‘Gardens’, that don’t need
insecticides to kill off the good neighbor creed but does need some push back
and breathing room.
Everything in their conversation’s about what a garden should
look like happens at such high-level performances it’s like mating elephants;
it’s accomplished with a great deal of roaring and screaming. Exhaustion sets
in fast and what aspires to be comedy loses its luster and slips into farce.
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| Kimberli Flores, Eddie Martinez, Peri Gilpin and Mark Pinter |
Fortunately the all around and exceptional cast gives some
credibility to what’s going on on stage or in the respective gardens and while
director Edward Torres does give us some laugh lines the cost is too high.
Set designer Collette Pollard designed a pristine back yard
look of an English garden, plush wrought iron garden chairs and a beautiful looking
full grown, no overgrown oak tree with small patches of weeds spread about in
the Del Vale’s yard. (“This is beautiful with our gorgeous tree.”) It is a
character all by itself enhanced by Amanda Zieve’s lighting design.
If one could chose sides or corners, you would find me in
Tania and Pablo’s, or what might look like the underdog’s side.
But don’t be fooled. Both Flores and Martinez are exceptional
in their roles as the outsiders. Both give strong performances worthy of having
any garden they like, taking second place to no one. The couple that came in as
the outsiders now feels as Tania declares “We are now the man!”
Gilpin is no slouch either as Virginia Butley. Just knowing
that she rose to the top of an all male firm show she has cojones and shows no
shame when she uses her influence to stop the Del Valle’s from putting up a new
fence. Dressed to the nines in Jennifer Brawn Gittings, she always looks at the
top of her game.
Mark Pinter is the other half of the Butley’s and doesn’t
mind flaunting his importance and righteous indignation either. That aside
yours truly found his character the least convincing, the most exaggerated,
over the top of the four. Some of the getups he wears to prune and spray his
garden boggle the imagination, but kudos to Gittings for ferreting them out.
At the end of this 90 or so minute frolic that ends well and
all’s well doesn’t satisfy well.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through June 24th
Organization: The Old Globe
Phone: 619-234-5623
Production Type: Comedy
Where: 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park
Ticket Prices: Start at $30.00
Web: theoldglobe.org
Venue: Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
Photo: Jim Cox
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