By Joe Straw
Prior to the
performance, an actor left midstream in the rehearsal process, and there wasn’t
enough time for the replacement to learn her lines. The night was the culmination of an unfortunate
event, which happens for a myriad of reasons.
But, without notice,
something peculiar happened.
For the actor onstage
now, uncertainties in the beginning were noticeable. A misplaced word, or a
stutter became clear sign of lost or forgotten lines.
And, without notice,
and after the first scene, the character brought her pages onto the stage. For a moment, I turned from that character, thinking
the worst without thinking about the cause and thus turned my attention to the
reactions of the other characters briefly and then paused noting…
The peculiar part was an
awakening – the play is about a woman slipping further and deeper into
homelessness. In real life, I caught myself avoiding the actor’s craft, a turn
away from one reality from someone in trouble who is trying to make the best of
a unfortunate situation just as I have found myself turning away from homeless
encampments.
These are sad times
and not the time to be turning our heads. – Narrator
Hero Theatre in
association with The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts presents Troy a world
premiere by Amina Henry, directed by Elisa Bocanegra, and produced by Elisa
Bocanegra, Gabe Figueroa, and Ashley Busenlener. The show has since closed.
The Troy apartment building is a place of infinite
suffering. The current occupants are
women with children who have long since lost their partners. Without an
additional income they slip precipitously in a crevasse of unsustainability.
Andie (Mildred Marie Langford) sits outside, away from her
sleeping child, folding laundry, to gather a sliver of sun between apartment
buildings, bathed in the street sounds of a busy Los Angeles neighborhood, as
Holly (April Nixon) steps outside her apartment to light a cigarette.
Age and life circumstances are getting the better of Holly
but she takes solace in the beautiful flowers outside her apartment door.
“You can learn a lot from flowers.” – Holly
Holly notes that dressing nice and talking nice are
important values for her. Being pretty
makes her feel like a queen.
Andie listening appears to have little room to be involved
with anyone other than her immediate family.
But, that doesn’t stop Holly from telling her life’s
stories, her twelve children most of whom are dead, and a son Johnny who she
believes is going to help her, no save her.
Cassie (Carene Rose Mekertichyan), 17 years old, is Holly’s older
daughter. Cassie wonders when they are going to get the car fixed so she
doesn’t have to take the bus.
“We’re poor. We have love. Take the bus.” - Holly
Holly’s other daughter Polly (Larrieux Ross) concentration
lies in her books. Polly is a
remarkable student - getting “straight A’s” - and she dreams of becoming a
Supreme Court Justice.
Tal (Adam Mendez, Jr.) the mailman shows up and the one
thing that is immediately obvious is that he has a soft spot in his heart for
Andie. Despite having a steady job and benefits Andie wants little to do with
him. His way to convince her is to write letters to find a way into her heart
and he does this repeatedly.
Dell (Jack Landrón) is the landlord and he is only there for
one thing, the rent. Holly hasn’t paid in a while and Dell is threatening to
throw her out if she doesn’t come up with the money.
Holly has a job, a hairdresser, but things have been a
little slow at the shop. She promises to
pay and doesn’t worry about too many oppressive obstacles in her path. She watches over her kids with little
oversight and dreams about Johnny who is going to save her from this poverty
and misery. Because “things have a way
of working out.”
While Cassie dreams about eating “pancakes with real maple
syrup,” she sets her sights on Manny (DeForrest Taylor) a drug dealer and
possibly a human trafficker who lives upstairs in their apartment building.
There is much to enjoy in Amina Henry’s play. The
language is raw and believable. The resemblance to The Trojan Woman by
Euripides is poverty. “Our country, our conquered
country, perishes.” is symbolic of todays times of a few conquering the lives
of many, keeping them in poverty and controlling their lives. And that is what we
are seeing. Poverty and hunger is the greatest killer of most dreams. The
characters dream of what they want but have little ideas on how to get there. Perhaps
hunger conquers their dreams. Also, pride gets in the way of accepting help
from the other characters as Holly and Andie all but dismiss those
opportunities. And while most moments in the play works, the letter from the
mailman near the end does not work.
The songs in this production are cute by T.J. Keanu Tario, composer, but offer
little in the way of progressing the story. I Am a Mailman and Where’s My Money
are endearing but does not move the play along or effect character changes on
stage. We get emotional insight and feelings from the other songs, and the
characters all sung the songs beautifully.
Elisa Bocanegra,
director and Hero Theatre’s Artistic Director does effectively well despite the
challenges of the play, the music, and other unexpected events. It is a well diverse cast and a few of the
actors have limited stage performances under their belts. That said some actors
need a little more guidance. Polly needs another physical characteristic
(perhaps ADHD), which will add to the unexpected event late in the play. The
mailman needs to delivery mail besides his own and the landlord needs to take
care of the property without only asking for the rent. The characters all have
lives and traits inclusive of their objectives and we need to see that in their
lives on stage.
There is something special in the way April Nixon (Holly) carries herself on stage. It is both appealing and the definition of
art. She dreams of the day her son will come to save her, her knight in
shinning armor. Holly has a strong constitution and maybe that is her fault.
She doesn’t accept help when offered because she doesn’t want to be beholden to
anyone or entangled from the sources of that money. For Nixon, there is more
room to fight for what she wants even if it means staying off of the streets. And
for God’s sake Holly take the money and then give it back.
Mildred Marie
Langford is Andie and plays the character pretty straight. Andie says she
has a boyfriend but he is never around. Andie
shows us that she is not interested in the mailman but doesn’t show us the why
she is not interested. Is the issue race? Is it that she wants the mailman to
try twice as hard? What is in her
background that keeps her from saying no? Is there a way to give a hint that
she might be interested? Why does she wait?
Carene Rose
Mekertichyan as Cassie has a strong speaking voice. It blows everyone else off the stage. Perhaps there is a middle ground for a
smaller venue rather than a voice for the Pantages. That aside, Mekertichyan
does well in the role. Carrie is a
person who dreams bigger but is satisfied with “pancakes with real maple syrup.”
Perhaps she should set her sights higher. Cassie needs focus in her life. She is a character who doesn’t acknowledge
the mistakes she has made, even in the end when the only thing she can offer
her mother is money.
Larrieux Ross is
Polly a young lady who moves in the direction of her schoolbooks to get what
she wants. She studies all day long and goes to the library. But, what is her
conflict? She is interrupted by hunger (mentally and physically) and must find
a way to get beyond that to absorb her books. Also, her mother and her sister
are constantly getting into fights and that bothers her as well. Finding a
stronger and creative objective is the key for this character.
Jack Landrón
handles the role of Del effectively. Dell wants his money and is not playing
any games. It’s money or out you go into
the street.
Adam Mendez, Jr.
plays Tal a mailman who only wants his love requited. Unfortunately, his counterpart wants nothing
to do with him. Mendez has a playful demeanor
on stage and it works most of the time but one got the impression that he was
looking out beyond the fourth wall, searching for approval, rather than working
with the other actors in the scene. Tal
has to convince Andie that he is her only choice. He went to college, but more importantly he
has benefits and that should be the kicker. But, what is the conflict? And, how
does that play out in action on the stage. She wants nothing to do with him, so
he has to write letters to get through.
But when he delivers mail, his action should be to find out if he’s
connecting first, and deliver the mail second.
Deforrest Taylor
plays Manny, the upstairs drug dealer.
There must be another way to play this character. Slightly soft spoken
with very little actions on stage. This
would probably work for television, but theatre is another matter. His
interactions with Carrie don’t go far enough.
The words are there the physical play is not. The same holds true with the landlord and the
mother. Manny should find a way to put the money in Holly’s pocket, and this
must be done physically. For the sake of adding an emotional life to the
character, what if Manny was her son? How would that play? Or, what if, Manny
was her lover? What if Manny didn’t have
a mother? How would Manny play those scenes?
Ryan Hardge was the male understudy but did not perform on
the night I attended.
Hero Theatre at The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts is
a great place to see theatre in Los Angeles. The crew is friendly and the
atmosphere is terrific. Elisa Bocanegra made sure to invite busloads of
homeless people to the event for a brief respite to the grind of their daily
lives. And that is a wonderful and remarkable thing!
Other members of the crew are as follows:
Anna Klevit – Stage Manager
Jeremy J. Lee – Sound Design
Christopher Scott Murillo – Scenic Design
Anthony Aguilar – Lighting Design
Maggie Dick – Costume Design
Jessica Johnson – Assistant Director
Julia Stier – Production Dramaturg
Giovanni Solis – Production Photographer
Stacy Henon, Larry Mura, and Denise Ambroggio – Set
Construction
Paola Delcid, and Damaris Ortiz – Production Mentees
