queens

C+

This new drama by Martyna Majok (Ironbound) at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater takes us to a basement in Queens where several immigrant women are living in a crowded illegal apartment. Most of them are from Eastern Europe, but one is from Honduras and another from Afghanistan. Most of the play is set in the basement in 2001, 2005 and 2017, but there are also scenes in Ukraine, Honduras and Georgia (the state, not the country). The jumping back and forth between years and places is occasionally confusing. Renia (a powerful Ana Reeder; The Big Knife), who we see rise from tenant to building owner, has left her young daughter behind and lives with that guilt. Inna (Sarah Tolan-Mee) is a young immigrant who suspects Renia might be her mother. Pelagiya (Jessica Love; Aubergine, The River), Aamani (Nadine Malouf; The Who and the What) and Isabella (Nicole Villamil) are three colorful residents who, unfortunately, disappear after Act One. Agata (Zuzanna Szadkowski) and Lera (Andrea Syglowski) have smaller but still important roles. Three of the actors (Mss. Love, Malouf and Villamil) also have a second role. The playwright captures the texture of life in the ad-hoc community formed by the women in the basement and offers some insight on what brought them there and what their hopes are. As a collection of character studies, the play succeeds, but as a coherent narrative, it needs work. There seems to be a trend this year to rush plays to production with really major revisions being made during previews. The set by Laura Jellinek seems too spacious for a basement apartment, but features a ceiling that lowers oppressively. Kaye Voyce’s costumes help define the characters. Danya Taymor has not been entirely successful in keeping the audience aware of when each scene takes place. Despite its flaws, the play offers a welcome glimpse at a group that has too often been overlooked. Running time: two hours 45 minutes including two intermissions.

The Red Letter Plays: In the Blood

In 1997 Suzan-Lori Parks made a casual remark to a friend that she wanted to write a riff on The Scarlet Letter and call it Fucking A. What she eventually produced was not one but two plays, both about a poor, illiterate woman named Hester who has been ill-treated by life. For the first time ever, they are being presented in tandem at Signature Theater.

C

In the first play written, In the Blood, Hester La Negrita (a strong Saycon Sengbloh; Eclipsed) is a woman with five bastard children by five different men, living with them underneath a bridge. As she struggles to get by, she is betrayed by all the people who should be helping her: The Welfare Lady (Jocelyn Bioh; An Octoroon), The Doctor (Frank Wood; Sideman, Can You Forgive Her?), her prostitute friend Amiga Gringa (Ana Reeder; The Big Knife), her first lover Chilli (Michael Braun; Everybody) and Reverend D. (Russell G. Jones; Father Comes Home from the Wars). Each gets a soliloquy to describe the nature of his or her betrayal of Hester. Unfortunately, the same actors must also play Hester’s children. Adults playing children is not a pretty sight. The letter A is important because it is as far as Hester got in her attempts to learn the alphabet. Eventually Hester snaps under the weight of her troubles and commits an act which is more shocking than surprising. The entire play seemed more than a bit schematic. The lack of subtlety in the writing is emphasized by the metaphorical set design by Louisa Thompson which features a curved slide of a back wall that no one can climb and a huge pipe that dumps trash from above. The costumes by Montana Levi Blanco are imaginative. Sarah Benson (An Octoroon) directed. Running time: two grim hours, no intermission.