Nomad Motel

C-

The New York premiere of this well-meaning but muddled drama by Carla Ching (Fast Company) is the current attraction at Atlantic Theatre Company’s Stage 2. Two intelligent high school seniors in Anaheim, CA — Alix (Molly Griggs; Linda), an American girl with a feckless single mother, and Mason (Christopher Larkin), a boy from Hong Kong with an absent widowed father — are paired by a high school teacher to work on a joint project. Alix’s mother Fiona (Samantha Mathis; American Psycho, Affluenza), an unemployed actress, has lost the family home and furtively moves Alix and her two unseen young brothers from one motel to another when she can’t come up with the rent. Alix’s salary as a waitress at a taco joint is the family’s only income. She longs to escape by getting into Pratt and becoming a landscape architect. Mason’s mysterious father James (Andrew Pang; Kafka on the Shore), apparently an enforcer for a crime syndicate, set Mason up in a home in Anaheim four years ago to benefit from an American education and get into a top university to study economics to become a hedge fund manager. He tries to keep tight control over his son even though absent, but cuts off his financial support and disappears after Mason is disrespectful during a phone call. The lonely, socially awkward Mason loves music and only wants to become a musician. Lest we somehow not grasp that Mason is sensitive, we learn that he is caring for an injured bird he rescued. When Fiona takes off again, leaving Alix on her own, Alix is forced to move in with Oscar (Ian Duff; Dutch Masters), an African-American ex-boyfriend who is still carrying the torch for her. When she doesn’t reciprocate, he kicks her out and, in desperation, she moves in with Mason. The plight of being undocumented or black is mentioned in passing; we learn that both Mason and Oscar have been victims of overzealous policing. The two parents eventually meet and commiserate over the sorrows of parenthood. There is also a ridiculous sword fight. The playwright touches many bases but does not dig deeply enough. The two central characters come across as less interesting to watch than their dysfunctional parents. The monochromatic gray set by Yu-Hsuan Chen (Inanimate), tasked to represent a series of motel rooms, Mason’s house and an abandoned convenience store, is not very helpful in establishing each setting. The costumes by Loren Shaw (Sojourners and Her Portmanteau) do not distract. The direction by Ed Sylvanus Iskander (Sojourners and Her Portmanteau, The Mysteries) has its awkward moments such as when two characters are forced to sit quietly during a long scene not involving them. All in all, it came across as a missed opportunity to adequately address several timely issues. Running time: two hours 15 minutes including intermission. NOTE: Avoid seats in Row A; it is not elevated above Row AA, so your view may be blocked.

Sojourners & Her Portmanteau

B-

New York Theatre Workshop, in association with The Playwrights Realm, is presenting in repertory two plays from Mfoniso Udofia’s projected nine-play cycle about the Nigerian diaspora. 

The first play, Sojourners, presented barely a year ago by The Playwrights Realm, is set in Houston in the late 70’s. Chinasa Ogbuagu (The Qualms) plays Abasiama Ekpeyoung, a diligent biology student at Texas Southern who works all night as cashier at a gas station even though she is eight months pregnant. Her slacker husband Ukpong Ekpeyoung (Hubert Point-du Jour, The Model Apartment) is allegedly studying economics there too, but he has been seduced by American ways, is growing restless in their arranged marriage, and repeatedly disappears for days. Moxie Wilis (Lakisha Michelle May, Everybody) is a barely literate young prostitute who turns up at the gas station to apply for a job that will get her out of the life. Disciple Ufot (Chinaza Uche) is a lonely, devout Nigerian student who also turns up at the gas station and thinks that meeting Abasiama is a sign of divine intervention. Moxie and Disciple vie for Abasiama’s attention. When the baby arrives, Abasiama is faced with difficult choices about her future. The play has some narrative bumps, but is carried along by the excellent acting. I did feel that the ending was so underwritten that its import might be missed.

Her Portmanteau, which takes place in New York 30 years later, reveals some of the consequences of her decision. Iniabasi Ekpeyoung (Adapero Oduve), a woman of about 30, arrives at JFK and discovers that her mother Abasiama Ufot (Jenny Jules, The Crucible), who was supposed to pick her up and take her home to Massachusetts, is not there. Instead she has sent her daughter Adiagha Ufot (Chinasa Ogbuagu again) to get her and take her to her own Manhattan apartment. For the rest of the play the three women strive to work through the complexities of their relationship to find some kind of closure. Once again the acting is superb and goes a long way to mitigate the play’s slow pacing, narrative infelicities and repetitiveness. 

The set design by Jason Sherwood has a frame resembling a large double-hung window, but with bright lights in it, overhanging the stage. Its two panes are used for projections. The stage turntable was quite effective until it broke down shortly before the end of the second play. Loren Shaw’s costumes befit the characters well. Director Ed Sylvander Iskandar (The Mysteries and These Seven Sicknesses at The Flea) keeps the actors going at full throttle too much of the time.

On weekends both plays are presented in one day. It doesn’t really matter in which order you see them. I saw the “second” play in time first, which made it interesting while watching the “first” play to look for clues to how things had reached that point. Both plays have flaws, but the strong performances make them worth a visit.

The running time for Her Portmanteau is one hour 45 minutes with no intermission. The length for Sojuourners is two hours 30 minutes including intermission.

The Mysteries ***

No one can accuse Ed Sylvanus Iskandar of thinking small. After his previous two hits at the Flea Theater — “These Seven Sicknesses,” a 4 1/2-hour Sophocles mash-up (use this site's search tool to see my review) and the 3 1/2-hour “Restoration Comedy” — Iskandar is back with his most ambitious project yet, a modern version of a medieval mystery play cycle, covering Bible stories from Creation to the Last Judgment, as interpreted by 48 different playwrights. The cast of 50 (almost as many actors as there are people in the audience) are members of the Flea’s talented young resident company, The Bats. The staging is highly immersive, with the audience seated in facing sections of only two rows of seats. The actors also use runways behind the seats separated by a curtain of semi-transparent plastic strips. You are literally only inches away from the action. The four dozen plus playlets include a wide variety of styles and genres, ranging from the reverent to the blasphemous, the sophisticated to the sophomoric, the philosophical to the salacious. Some follow the underlying story fairly closely while others are original riffs on biblical themes. God is played by an actor who is about four feet tall. The angels Lucifer and Gabriel, whose competition is one of the threads running through the play, are played by women. Mary is first seen as a Valley Girl, worried about whether her pregnancy will prevent her from finishing high school. Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a Western sheriff. After the resurrection, Jesus’s first sighting is in Brooklyn. You get the idea. There’s nudity, which makes sense for Adam and Eve, but less so for Lazarus. Who knew that the Apostles were all so buff? There’s lots of music throughout with an angel chorus, a gospel choir and a band of musicians. There’s also dancing and some convincing fight scenes. Iskandar is credited as conceiver and director, with ample support from dramaturg Jill Rafson. CollaborationTown provided the interstitial text that, with varying success, glues the disparate segments together. As with any anthology, some stories work better than others. The third and final section, in my opinion, contained both some of the best and the worst material. After recruiting so many playwrights to contribute, the creative team may have felt bound to include all their work. This is unfortunate, because some judicious trimming would have significantly improved the work. Having the actors chat with the audience before and after the play and during intermission while serving us dinner and dessert is an integral part of Iskandar’s view of theater as a communal experience. During the first intermission, audience members were also invited to pose with some of the actors for a selfie as Jesus in a nativity scene. I compliment the Flea for this ambitious effort. At 5 hours, 35 minutes (including two intermissions), it was simply too much of a mostly good thing. 

P.S. Here's a link to the full credits: http://www.theflea.org/files/uploads/1397767768.pdf

These Seven Sicknesses ****

(Please click on the title to see the full review.)
The Flea Theater's clever adaptation of the seven surviving plays of Sophocles (Oedipus, In Trachis, In Colonus, Philoktetes, Ajax, Elektra and Antigone) was a New York Times Critic's Pick when it ran last winter. Now it is back for an encore run until July 1. Although the running time is about 4 1/2 hours including breaks for dinner and dessert (both included in the ticket price), the time passes very quickly. Sean Graney's clever reworking of the plays is greatly enhanced by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar's able direction and Michael Wieser's terrific fight direction. Performances by the 30+ actors, all members of The Bats, the Flea's young resident company, are all enthusiasic and, in most cases, very good. The actors also chat up the audience before the play starts and during the two breaks. They even serve the food. Unlike the original works, where violence always takes place offstage, lots of blood is shed here. Don't let that keep you away. There are several passages that speak to current events without being heavy-handed about it. The simple but effective set by Julia Noulin-Merat resembles two sets of facing jury boxes. Loren Shaw's costumes, both period-appropriate and modern dress, are excellent. The dinner from Macao Trading Company (tonight was eggplant curry over jasmine rice with pork buns) and the dessert from Billy's Bakery (miniature cupcakes) were delicious. It all made for a very enjoyable evening. My compliments to The Flea for taking on such an ambitious project.