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| Adam Shapiro and Christine Woods Photos by Dean Cechvala |
By Joe Straw
The deck was not large
enough to see the canyon in its entirety. – Narrator
IAMA Theatre Company
in association with The Latino Theater Company presents Canyon by Jonathan
Caren, a world premier play directed by Whitney White and produced by Patti
Anne Miller through March 24, 2019.
On this night, an eclectic crowd, young/old, rich/poor,
black/white/brown, a.k.a. theatre patrons filled the seats surrounding three
quarters of a thrush stage – the deck – an intimate night, dressed in black,
and in a passionate setting.
Canyon by Jonathan Caren is an impressive work of art that
highlights the lives of ordinary compassionate human beings caught in a nightmare
of their own creation. How far will human beings go to protect their self-interests?
There was something about the two cans of diet root beer
that Jake (Adam Shapiro) brought out and placed near the lounge chair on his deck, outside his house, and in his area
that struck me as both odd and significant.
Notwithstanding the backstory, those two items, quick grabs
at a local market, were now what he didn’t
want. And, what sane person drinks diet
root beer?
But, fortunately, progressive as he was, he couldn’t just
discard the diet drink. Instead, he offered it to someone less fortunate than
he, like the Mexican contractor, just to make a sincere point.
But Eduardo (Geoffrey Rivas) had an ice chest with drinks to suit his purpose and an apple to keep him both fed and hydrated. A diet
root beer was not for him.
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| Luca Oriel and Geoffrey Rivas |
Today Eduardo’s helper was off doing other things so Eduardo
brought his son, Rodrigo (Luca Oriel), to assist. Rodrigo, soon heading off to college, was not
impressed by his father’s situation. And
he was rebellious and vocal about how his father was being treated, working for
slave wages in order to satisfy the wants of a successful young rich white guy
with a beautiful home off a canyon road in Los Angeles.
It was 2016 and we were all God’s beautiful creations back then.
Still, Eduardo had the work and had to work to pay for
Rodrigo’s college. But one extra job was convincing Jake to make up his mind
about extending the deck while he hung around doing odds and ends waiting for
the ultimate answer and the cold hard cash.
Rodrigo couldn’t know all this, spirited as he was looking out
for his father’s behalf. Picking up an
arrowhead, the father soothes the temporal beast within his son’s being by
explaining that they have been here a lot longer.
“Know what you are looking for.”
– Eduardo
So, Eduardo hangs around Jake’s home in hopes that Jake can
convince his wife, Beth (Christine Woods), a physician and breadwinner, that they
need an extension on the deck. Of course
this is something Jake and Eduardo want to keep to themselves until the deal is
done.
Meanwhile Beth, in scrubs, arrives home after a hard day. A few months pregnant, she nurtures their
home, loves relaxing at home with her husband, and spending time on their beautiful deck.
Jake, taking the opportunity of massaging Beth’s feet, has scenic
thoughts of expansion.
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| Stefanie Black and Brandon Scott |
A short time later, Will (Brandon Scott), Jake’s college
friend and now public defender and his wife Dahlia (Stefanie Black), arrives from
back east. They are an interracial couple and are clearly having problems in
their relationship.
In the meantime, Dahlia enjoys a brief respite from their
two children and immediately sets herself relaxing on the deck with a few
glasses of wine as Beth holds the
bottle.
Later, Will confides to Jake that he wants out of the
marriage, that their son has autism, and the tension between them and their
unpleasant reflections has them discussing matters with a marriage counselor. But, he’s definite, he wants out.
Without getting into details, the secret confessions are released. And those secrets, not whispered in the night,
bounce off the canyon walls, and find their mark.
The next morning is filled with tension and survival is
broken down to its rustic simplicity on the deck. Never ending love suddenly becomes a battle of
survival.
And then someone gets hurt; bodies are now thrown off the deck
and lives roll metaphorically down the steep canyon walls.
Jonathan Caren
has written an exquisite play. His words
are masterfully relevant at time before the world turned ugly. (2016) The play
is a sincere look at polite and ostensibly progressive human beings who turn
when dramatic tensions have them fighting for their own best interest and
bitterness usurps the eloquence once prevalent. When
tragedy strikes, a torrent of race hating falls like rain. And to that end
their unaccountable indifference finally becomes accountable causing
unfathomable pain. The suffering is self-inflicted, humans being hypocritical,
and the progressiveness seems to be a facade easily crumbled. And one character breaks most of the principles of being a Unitarian Universalists. It ends when forgiveness becomes the only viable
option.
Whitney White,
the director, moves the actors in a way that paying attention is critical. She
gives you enough of the relationship to question its authenticity. And then
questions your involvement when taking sides in the critical moments. The blame
game becomes one of acute observations in this intimate space – almost as if the director has pulled focus
away from significant events on and off stage to take the audience for a mental ride.
And for those reasons, it is a wonderful achievement and worth seeing again and
again.
The acting is well above par and it moves along in a fast
clip, sometimes too fast as the pain in moments have little time to make their
mark.
Adam Shapiro is
terrific as Jake, a man who is engulfed in his own self sacrifice, giving up his
life to live off the sacrifices of others, his dad and his wife. Listening to others and accepting the
information is his downfall. But,
throughout it all, his action is the saving grace. Shapiro gives a fine
performance, natural and nuanced.
Christine Woods
is Beth, the breadwinner in the family.
She, on the outside, is willing to have a stay-at-home husband, but when
push comes to shove, she blames her only love for making unwise decisions about
their lives. Beth has other underlying issues, dabbing in anti-anxiety drugs
while pregnant, discussed but not witnessed. One wished to scrutinize her
actions with a little more intensity. She
is wearing scrubs but we find out later that she is a physician as if the
writer wanted us slightly confused. Woods is very good under the lights.
Brandon Scott is
Will, a man now in fantods, has succumbed to the pitfalls of married and family
life and believes there are better ways.
But, the answers to his prayers come at the misfortunes of his friend
and maybe that is his way out. Will
obviously has other dreams that may not be manifested in Scott’s objective.
Stefanie Black is
Dahlia, a woman who professes to be progressive because she is in a dramatic
interracial relationship. She being the
more dramatic of the two. Her life is staying at home and taking care of the
two children who are getting older. She seems unaware of the pressures of a one-income
family and is willing to let her husband carry the burden in his low-paying
public defender job. Dahlia is the Pandora’s box letting out one misfortune
after another. Black’s work is
excellent.
Geoffrey Rivas is
terrific as Eduardo. He obviously knows
what he is doing as the contractor but his actions are slightly ambiguous in
the ways he goes about to earn more money. We get bits of information on his
life, his drinking problem, and his ways of manipulation. We never see what
gets him into trouble or what he does to get his son into more trouble, so
during the course of the night, one is suspicious.
Luca Oriel is
Rodrigo a young man determined to help his father through these tough times no
matter what price he has to pay. And maybe
he does pay a price near the end as the police come rushing up to the canyon
road. Oriel is young and still learning and there is more to add to the performance,
still, he has a great look and is very agreeable in the role.
Other members of the remarkable crew are as follows:
Colleen Labella – Associate Director
Holiday Kinard – Associate Producer
Robert Mahaffie – Co-Stage Manager
Lucy Houlihan – Co-Stage Manager
R.S. Buck – Lighting Designer
Michael O’Hara – Props
Melissa Trn – Costume Designer
Jeff Gardner – Sound Designer
Daniel Soule – Scenic Designer
Ryan Wilbat – Asst Scenic Designer
Red Colgrove – Set Build
Kis Knekt – Scenic Charge
Lucy Pollak – Publicity
Also, the understudies who did not perform the night I
attended are: Christine Woods, Aynsley Bubbico, J. Claude Deering, Chris
Gardner, Ray Oriel, Alexandra Wright, and Matt Yepez.
Run! Run! Run! And take a Unitarian Universalist with
you. You’ll have some interesting things
to discuss on your deck at home.
Los Angeles Theatre Center
Avalos Theatre
514 S.
Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
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