KEIKO GREEN’S “EMPTY RIDE” MAKES WORLD PREMIERE AT OLD GLOBE

 Keiko Green’s “Empty Ride” is not the first of her plays to premiere at the Old Globe or for that matter, around town. Her “Exotic Deadly or The MSG” play premiered at the Old Globe a few years ago and another of her plays, “Sharon” or Who the Fu** is Sharon?” premiered at Cygnet.

In each of my reviews, I mentioned that Green was someone to keep an eye on as a fresh pair of eyes coming from an Asian-American perspective.

And here she is again back at the Old Globe in an original 90 min. play commissioned by the Globe, “Empty Ride”, set in 2016 in Ishinomaki, Japan, where over 3,000 humans were killed in the great tsunami following the 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake of 2011. In all some 20,000 people were killed in that earthquake.

Michele Selene Ang

“Empty Ride” is ghostly but not ghastly, it’s oft times funny but not fun, it’s fiction but based on fact and its characters are somewhat interesting, but there are too many of them making a 90 minute play seem like an eternity.

David Rosenberg and Jojo Gonzalez

 

Kisa (an excellent Michele Selene Ang) arrives in Ishinomak, Japan from Paris where she was studying art, to take care of her ailing, loving, broke and broken father Isamu (on target Jojo Gonzales). Isamu owns a taxi service and Kisa wants to take up the reigns and drive it for him to make some money to pay the huge bills he mounted.  

Although he warns her not to drive at night, that’s exactly what he was doing while picking up passengers or ghosts of the past and not getting any revenue, so the story goes. She too is changed by the ‘evening guests'.

Michele Selene Ang, Major Curda and Jully Lee

But during the day she encounters several people from her past: her old boyfriend Toru (a bouncy, yet annoying  Major Curda) who wants things as they were when they were younger, his greedy sister Sachico (talented Jully Lee also plays several other characters), who wants to take advantage of the situation and resell the ruins of the city to developers, and neighbor, Alex (David Rosenberg who also played in her ‘Sharon’ play) was looking after Kisa’s father. He has his own ghost story to tell in a too long soliloquy.

Moving everyone about for the play to make sense in the in the round theatre is director Sivan Battat. It’s almost spine chilling watching both Kisa and Toru move the ‘cab’ around the stage in a perfectly choreographed  step over step (no credit is given for choreography) as if we are there as passengers. Adam Rigg’s scenic design is minimal and Avi Armon’s sound design is as ghostly as the ghosts picked up by the taxi drivers.

Michele Selene Ang

 

Green has given us another look into her imagination and the complexity of her thoughts. Complexity is the key word. As “Empty Ride” unfolds, it gets over complicated and unfocused with too many storylines and characters that add nothing to the overall outcome of the play. 

With some culling and refocusing  some of the ghosts might just have a story to tell after all. 

See you at the theatre. 

Enjoy.  

     

When: When: runs through March 2. 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (plus 2 p.m. matinee on Feb. 26)

Where: Old Globe Theatre’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Balboa Park

Photo: Rich Soublet II

Tickets: $31 and up

Phone: 619-234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

CYGNET’S “OTHER DESERT CITIES” QUESTIONS FAMILY LOYALTIES

 As steady and calm as most desert climate forecasts seem to be, a family crisis of hurricane proportions begins unraveling in front of our eyes in the Desert City of Palm Springs where the Wyeth Clan is gathering for the holidays. Daughter Brooke is ready to share, at last, her latest ‘novel’ before publication. 

“Other Desert Cities” premiered Off-Broadway in January 2011 and moved to Broadway in November of that same year. Not surprisingly, it was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Ben Bradley of the New York Times said of it that it … “was the most thoroughly and sustained work from Mr. Baitz, who had been regarded as a promising wunderkind for long past his sell-by date.

Rosina Reynolds

 “Other Desert Cities” is making its second round through San Diego. The first time was 12 years ago at the Old Globe. It is still the thought provoking blisteringly caustic, oft times laugh out loud funny, as it was then. Under Director Sean Murrays wings the play really hums along in the second act. 

There is nothing shy about matriarch Polly Wyeth (Rosina Reynolds). She says it ‘like it is’. (“Sarcasm is the purview of teenagers and homosexuals.”) For the most part her friends, Nancy and Ronnie (Reagan that is) and the rest of the big donors in the Republican Party, admire her outspokenness. 

As for her two liberal minded offspring Brooke (Melanie Lora) and Trip (Geoffrey Ulysses Geissinger) and Polly’s recovering alcoholic sister Silda (Debra Wanger) her behavior is a bit too cutting and deliberately hurtful for their taste. And as for her husband Lyman (Alan Rust), well he stands by his girl and for good reason.

Rosina Reynolds, Alan Rust and Debra Wanger

Lyman Wyeth is a retired actor, not one whose name is now easily recognizable. After his acting career waned, loyalty to his Republican Party earned him both chair of the GOP and an ambassador appointment where he gained favor from his fellow travelers. He also had the distinction of being spokesperson for the California Wine Board. 

Polly, fresh out of Bryn Mawr, went straight to MGM where she became a screenwriter. She and her sister, noted for their screen -plays, the ‘Hilary’ series;  “Here Comes Hilary”, Hasta La Vista Hilary”, etc., brought her own fame and success. The films are now all included in a DVD box set that Brooke watches now and then. 

That dynamic duo writing partnership lasted until the two had a falling out. According to Polly being a wife became a full time job, but in reality “once it became about drugs and lefties whining, I was out”. 

Today their stars of fame are as obscure as are their Jewish ones of the past; sequestered away far from the Hills of Hollywood where they are hunkered down in another desert city. It is here that they join their otherwise Jewish friends at the Country Club where they, what else, have Christmas brunch together and pretend to forget their past torments. 

Both Brooke and her brother Trip have taken up the gauntlet from their parents, somewhat. He produces a TV show something like a ‘Judge Judy’/’People's Court’ type and Brooke is a writer. From what we learn Brooke had a nervous breakdown that sent her into years of depression and therapy caused after their older brother Henry committed suicide. 

She is so driven by that fact; to wit, she has written a tell all book about that tragedy and what the lead up to it was. It is of course as she recalls and from her diaries. It is a memoir if you will. She has come to the desert to let her parents know that her so-called second novel is not a novel after all. 

Melanie Lora

The senior Wyeth’s are haunted by that incident in their lives and they don’t want to be reminded about it in a book, in conversation or by innuendo, nor do they wish to discuss. Period. Exclamation point. End of sentence! 

Henry, a product of the late sixties and early seventies did what most young people of his generation did; they fought for what we thought then were radical causes opposing the war in Vietnam, demonstrating, smoking pot and irritating the hell out of their parents. 

Unfortunately for Henry though, he crossed the line and was implicated in a bombing incident at a recruiting office that ended up turning deadly. From all accounts a suicide note in his writing along with his clothes were found left on a ferry in Seattle. It was reported that Henry jumped into the river. 

Sometime after the dust settled, reputations restored and friendships rekindled Polly and Lyman hightailed to Palm Springs where they would like Brooke to settle (she lives in New York) and where Silda spends her days sleeping and drying out. 

Son Trip lives close but far enough away in Los Angeles. He seems to be the equalizer, or at least tries to be one, as Brooke wrestles out loud with her inner conflict as to how much lateral damage will or will not befall her parents if her truth be known. Trip, the youngest of the three, has no real memories of the event or Henry for that matter. Brooke wants some sort of green light from Polly. 

Debra Wanger

The lingering question at intermission being discussed was how loyal do we need to be to our family/parents and how far will we go, or not to protect them? As for Silda, she is still the rebel without a cause and encourages Brooke to sock it to ‘em and let the chips fall where they may. Trip has other thoughts. He is a gentler, kinder offspring and doesn’t see the need to go that far, but he vacillates.  

Now, as they say, the chickens have come home to roost. Brooke is determined to publish her book going so far as to have given The New Yorker a few chapters to print in the coming months.

Rosina Reynolds is at the top of her game as Polly Wyeth. Polished by nature from her years of unflinching commitment to her cause as the protective wife and mother, inflexible as a rod when it comes to guarding her secret, her zingers come so fast, furious and vicious that each target she bulls eye flinches. 

That’s the good news/bad news for Reynolds. Her pointed and scathing remarks, draw rounds of laughter to the detriment of the next volley. Ms. Reynolds is simply stunning in this role and we can’t blame her for the laughs. 

Alan Rust’s Lyman is just the opposite. His quiet resolve is almost heartbreaking as he slinks into himself looking like a defeated, but not unloved man. Geissenger’s  Trip is like an almost ran. He’s there but he’s not. He’s best when defending and defining his TV show, but almost delegated to the background by the three strong women in his life. 

Debra Wanger has the most fun with the best lines. She can be her destructive, quizzical and liberal self as long as she desires and we will love her. Fortunately, or unfortunately, her history filters into the family mess and she too becomes a whipping boy when Polly feels the need to strike out at someone other than Brooke. 

Melanie Lora’s Brooke has all that pent up anxiety and anguish needed as the driven and hurt daughter. Her obsession to get the truth out trumps all and brings the troops home to rally. What we learn will rock our socks off.  In the meantime, hell be damned if she’s going to go easy on her parents whom she thinks are to blame for her brother’s death. She will not be talked out of publishing this tell all family secret. All this ads to the approaching storm about to hit the Wyeth homestead 

Brooke Nichole Kesler’s costume designs are exceptionally flattering to Ms. Reynolds who wears them with the ease of a star. She always holds her own looking stately in desert suitable attire while Lora’s Brooke still has the east coast dark color, winter look about them. Rust’s Lyman is well coordinated in soft colors flattering to him and Trip looks casual California. All is well. 

Andrew Hulls set is period 60’s. Easy chairs, a sofa, few chairs, foot stools, a table in the background, a bar off to the side and across the room a fireplace and check out the hutch with a Menorah on the shelf.

Desert Mountains

The piece de resistance is the mountain range off in the background appropriately lit by Joshua Heming’s subtle lighting. Standing alone in all its forgotten glory is a Christmas tree reminding us of the season (to be jolly).  

Playwright Baitz has opens up an interesting topic about family loyalty, family secrets and what it means to be family. Discuss among yourselves.

Enjoy.

WHEN: Runs through March 2. 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town State Historic Park

Photo: Karli Cadel

Tickets: $34 and up

Phone: 619-337-1525

Online: cygnettheatre.com

FEMALE SCIENTISTS TAKE CENTER STAGE IN “THE HALF LIFE OF MARIE CURIE” AT NEW VILLAGE ARTS

  “The Half Life of Marie Curie” is written by a woman playwright, Lauren Gunderson and directed by a woman, Kym Pappas about two amazing women; one a two time Nobel Peace Prize winner and physicist, Polish (aka Maria Salome Sklodowska-Curie) born scientist Marie Curie and the other Hertha Ayrton, British born mathematician and electrical engineer. 

Who best to understand and bring to light the long lasting friendship between two woman than by a woman? And do it point on.

Gunderson has been among the most produced playwrights in the U.S. in recent years. Based on letters between Marie Curie and Hertha Aryton “The Half Life Of Marie Curie” is now in a splendid, no superb production at N.V.A.

Both single with children Hertha (Leigh Scarrett) comes into Marie’s (Rachael Van Wormer) life when she most needs her. Hertha (Phoebe Sarah Hertha Ayrton) offspring of a Jewish-Polish clockmaker father and seamstress mother, eventually found it easier to change her name, her style of dress and her strong support for women, suppressed or otherwise, and became a suffragette to support her beliefs.

Curie, depressed and wracked with scars from her discovery of radium and plutonium, (radioactivity), shunned by society for believing she cavorted with a married man and at wits ends by harrowing attacks of pain, is whisked away by Hertha to her country estate in Dorset, England where the two share secrets and accomplishments in real time, dote on their children and form a lifelong friendship that lasts until their deaths.

Leigh Scarrett and Rachael  Von Wormer

Among other things, Hertha, sympathizes and urges Marie not to give in to the nonsense of the Royal British Academy not to come to France to accept her medal, which eventually she will.  Both reflect about their marriages, dote on their children (one of Hertha’s is in jail) and how best they can help each other by getting their work recognized, find lab space to work in, and eventually see the results of their inventions. 

This  two hander features two of San Diego’s finest. As Hertha, Leigh Scarrett is sharp as a tack, with a twinkle in her eye, and a serious message to share. She begins to take Marie under her wings and show her the ways to  weave through troubled waters. She shines in this role as I would have expected. 

Rachael Von Wormer, another of San Diego’s finest, as  Marie Curie, is equally as effective. Dressed in an all- black (Claire Peterson) pleated dress, (in contrast to Ms. Scarrett’s light blue islet blouse and gray skirt) she is always wearing a frown, rarely smiling.  She is a troubled woman whose only pleasure seems to be her children; one a gifted pianist. Her performance is spot on. 

Kym Pappas, another strong women’s rights advocate makes all this happen with her excellent direction. In her notes she mentions that this play is for strong, resilient and courageous women. 

On the technical side, Curtis Miller, lighting design, Christopher Scott Murillo, set designer, Harper Justus, sound, and French dialect coach, Susanna Peredo Swap, and Kim Strassburger, dramaturg. 

In 1911 women struggled for the right to be treated asequals to men. Throughout the years, women have made strong gains but…let’s not be too elated. Me thinks that this current administration is ready to  send them back to being citizens non grata. Think of Roe v Wade as one example. 

The things that cannot be taken away from Marie Curie and Hertha Ayrton are their inventions and how they helped the world move into the next century.

Hat’s off to New Village Arts for bringing this story to us.  

The play runs 90 minutes, give or two, and packs a powerhouse.

 See you at the theatre. 

Enjoy. 

When:  Opens Feb. 1 and runs through Feb. 23. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays

Photo: Daren Scott

Where: Conrad Prebys Theatre at the Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center, 2787 State St., Carlsbad

Tickets: $35-$60

Phone: 760-433-3245

Online: newvillagearts.org

“APPROPRIATE” AT GLOBE REVEALS SECRETS THAT TEAR A FAMILY APART.

 How does one write about segregation, anti-Semitism, drug abuse, familial abuse and a host of other nasty terms to describe how a family can sink into the abyss of  absolutely hating one another? Most likely by one who has lived it, been the object of it and participated in it; well, maybe not all of it, but perhaps some at least.

Cast of "Appropriate"

Now through Feb.23rd the Old Globe in Balboa Park is presenting Branden Jacobs-Jenkins 2011 production of “Appropriate”, a 2024 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Play, now under the direction of Steve H. Broadnax III who does yeoman’s work at keeping the Lafayette’s in place. 

The fact that Jacobs-Jenkins is Black and I am Jewish, we could have written this play together, but…we didn’t. It’s all Jacob-Jenkins and it’s biting, oft funny in some dark, odd -ball way, devastating to the fragility of the Lafayette family in Arkansas where, in the way back of their plantation property is a cemetery plot where Black slaves are buried.

The Siblings

Each of the Lafayette offspring (and there are three) gather at the estate to sell and auction off some belongings,  and reap the ‘harvest’ from its sale. But in the process, the sins of the father; slave holding and race baiting  are passed on to the children in different ways, that not even a plunge on the property lake can wash away. Just to be clear, it took seven generations to get to where we are now and it seems nothing much has changed in the generational time -line  except for the use of cell phones and of course dress and drugs among other things. The time is 2011. 

Of the three Lafayette adult children, Toni, Bo and Frank. (Maggie, Steve Kazee and Daniel Pedzoid) in that order, Toni, the oldest is filled with rage over the hand that has been dealt her while dealing with a troubled teen aged son Ryhs and taking care of her late father..

  

Brynn Gauthier and Daniel Pedzold

She has been named the executor of the estate; another reason for her siblings to resent her. Frank, or Franz as he later would call himself, the youngest, witnessed too much at a young age that left him damaged in a haze of alcohol and drugs and Bo, in the middle, traveled from the east coast  with his wife and young children only to fume and fuss when he finds out Toni is executor of the estate. 

As they argue and accuse each other of the most unkind and verbal (too much screaming for these ears) abuse including anti-Semitic slurs, an old scrapbook from the attic appears. Looking through the photos, a din falls over the house and from there on, the you know what hits the fan. The secrets that the sibs thought were only hearsay were in pictures right under their noses. To say more would spoil it for you.

No doubting that the performances are top notch although the play, a 2/12 hour drama with a few funny jabs in between, went on too long and OH the screaming over one another was maddening.

Maggie Lacy and Steve Kazee

Maggie Lacey’s Toni on the edge throughout never let her anger get in the way of whatever anyone else had to say. Small in stature, she carried a big stick and managed to zap everyone in her sight. Steve Kazee’s Bo came into the picture sort of neutral at first but as the play moved on and their true selves poked through his greedy self, showed. Frank, who came with his girlfriend  River (Brynn Gauthier), came to apologize for the troubles he caused his family. Even the children of the Lafayette’s were not absent of innocence; they heard and saw too much. 

In fact the entire cast was flawless under Steve  H. Broadnax III direction. 

Steve Kazeee, Daniel Petzold and Maggie Lacey 

Arnel  Sancianco’s huge set with winding staircase and clutter strewn all over the floor, odd pieces of furniture here and there and an imposing chandelier hanging over the room with sconces up the staircase created by lighting designer Alan C. Edwards create a dark atmosphere. 

Sad to say, Jacob-Jennings’ “Appropriate” is all too true with this new administration sending out anti-Semitic messages, defending the KKK, ignoring Black History Month and much more. 

We have been here before and it’s ugly. 

See you at the theatre.

 When: Runs through Feb. 23. 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 23rd.

Where: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego

Photo: Rich Soublet II

Tickets: $31 and up

Phone: 619-234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

“THE HEART SELLERS”

Soon, the first president of the U.S to be charged as a felon will have been sworn in as # 47. Much to half of the countries chagrin he promises massive immigration reforms in the form of sending all immigrants back to their native countries. Over the years legal and illegal immigration have been at the center of this controversy.  

In 1965, President Johnson passed the  Hart-Caller bill reforming U.S. immigration policy by lifting strict quotas on immigrants from Asia and Africa and the beat goes on.  

Jin Park and Marielle Young

In a play on words, playwright Lloyd Suh' 1973 play and the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach, under the deft direction of Kat Yen, are presenting  “The Heart Sellers”, a story of friendship and bonding between two woman; one from The Philippines and the other from Korea. 

When the play opens, on Thanksgiving 1973, we find the two, virtual strangers, at Luna’s (Marielle Young)  apartment. Not knowing one another, although they had seen each other at the grocery store, Luna, from the Philippines invited Jane from Korea (Jin Park) home and off they went. We learn that both husbands are in med school and they are both alone on this American Holiday.

At the start it was a little confusing for this reviewer to follow the gist of Suh’s story, at least as confusing as was the look on Jane’s face until Luna started rambling about her life and her her husband when shortly after, shy and reticent Jane chimes in and before we know it, the two are as comfortable as old friends, maybe even sisters thanks to director Kat Yen. 

Marielle Young and Jin Park

Over the course of 90 minutes, several cups of wine, and a frozen turkey, both women share their dreams, their loneliness, their home sickness, immigration, sexism, ( at the time Richard Nixon was on his way out) their thoughts of going to Disneyland, of learning to drive, of adjusting to their life in America and what they left behind in their home countries. 

Marielle Young and Jin Park

And while the shared dreams and wishes go from animated to serious to whimsical, Suh manages lots of humor in the conversation even down to the fact that they both shop at Kmart and have the exact same jackets. 

Many years ago, my husband and I went to visit family in Israel. My husband did not speak Hebrew, our family there did not speak English. They communicated by drawing pictures in the sand and some kind of language in the palms of their hands.

Marielle Young

It doesn’t take much if one really wants it to work. For Jane and Luna we get the impression that they will always be friends. For my husband and our Israeli family, theirs was a lasting bond. As far as the turkey was concerned, that’s another story. 

Marty Burnett did his magic again designing a compact living space for Luna. Matt Novotny designed the lights, Grace Wong, the period costumes and Danieta Hart Uptownworks, the sound design. 

“The Heart Sellers,” originally commissioned by Milwaukee Repertory Theater, was first performed in 2023. Kudo’s to NCR for starting off 2025 with some food for thought and up to date and worthy thoughts as this new era of immigration reform barnstorms the nation. 

See you at the theatre.

Enjoy.   

When:  Opens Jan. 11 and runs through Feb. 2. 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. and Sundays

Photo: Aaron Rumley

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach

Tickets: $52-$74

Phone: 858-481-1055

Online: northcoastrep.org