VIEWPOINTS – Uniquely immersive Off-Broadway shows exploring family legacy: Partying with the Guerreros in CANCIONES, slumming in a cluttered apartment in OBIT.

Over the past week or so, I’ve been able to delve into a pair of new Off-Broadway plays that deal with the notion of family legacy, particularly as it relates to its passing from one generation to the next. Here are my thoughts on these engrossing plays, which also happen to be uniquely immersive theatrical happenings.

A scene from “Canciones” co-presented by Radical Evolution, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Sol Project, and Boundless Theatre Company (photo by Jody Christopherson).

CANCIONES
Radical Evolution / Latinx Playwrights Circle / The Sol Project / Boundless Theatre Company
Closed

Before concluding its limited Off-Broadway run this past holiday weekend, I was able to catch Canciones (RECOMMENDED), an immersive production that takes place in an actual single family house in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood. Co-presented by Radical Evolution, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Sol Project, and Boundless Theatre Company — and collaboratively created by Rebecca Martínez, Julián Mesri, Beto O’Byrne, Sara Ornelas, and Meropi Peponides, who were inspired by Linda Ronstadt’s album Canciones de mi Padre — the piece is essentially a heartfelt family drama in the guise of a house party in a private home. Upon arriving at the residence as an invited guest to the aforementioned party, the boundary between actors and audience is immediately blurred as you’re informally introduced to the members of the lively Guerrero family. Over the course of the two-hour evening (which includes refreshments and a light tamales dinner), you have the freedom to follow the characters around the party — whether it be in the home’s living room, dining room, kitchen, basement, or back porch — in the process engaging in intimate gossip to learning more about the characters’ backgrounds, motivations, and the conflicts between them, particularly as it relates to Latinx heritage and family legacy (no spoilers here). As warmly directed by Martínez, Canciones unfolds with hospitality and the authentic cadence and organic ebbs and flows of an actual party, punctuated by the occasional dramatic and mariachi-inspired musical centerpieces that ensure that everyone has a cohesive experience, regardless of how aggressively you approach the largely free-roaming, site-specific endeavor. Each member of the terrific cast — who are also sensational singers and musicians — puts their own soulful stamp on their respective character, naturally navigating the delicate line between performance and improvisation. Together, they have real chemistry as a family, convincingly binding them despite inherent differences and some feisty personalities.

Carson Higgins, Kerstin Anderson, and Loren Lester in Trey Everett’s “Obit.” at the East Village Basement (photo by Qinyi Hua).

OBIT.
East Village Basement
Through May 30

Then there was the New York premiere of Obit. (RECOMMENDED), a new play by written by Trey Everett which is concluding its run at the exceedingly cozy East Village Basement. In essence, the play tells the story of man who reconnects with his estranged father at his unruly, impossibly cluttered New York apartment. As they slowly reacquaint themselves with each other, it becomes clear that the old man has been struggling through some mental issues (e.g., for a good chunk of the play, he only responds to his son as his apartment super’s assistant). Over the course of Everett’s compellingly-written and structured work, the playwright explores themes such as family trauma, generational inheritance, and toxic masculinity as the two tentatively patch up their damaged relationship. Also a part of the equation is the son’s embittered half-sister — and their father’s consistent care-giver — completing a fraught family triangle whose individual memories of the past collectively call to mind the incongruity of Kurosawa’s seminal film Rashomon (it must be mentioned that a stabilizing force throughout the play is the son’s pregnant wife). The production is also notable for marking the directorial debut of Andrew Barth Feldman, who has created an immersive experience — throughout, the actors at times are mere inches from some audience members — that’s both immediate in its unadorned naturalism and wonderfully theatrical (kudos to Nessa Scabuzzo’s claustrophobic set design, as well as Wheeler Moon’s subtly evocative lighting). The cast of Obit. features Kerstin Anderson, Jerusha Cavazos, Carson Higgins, and Loren Lester — each of whom navigate the play’s complex family dynamics with both gravity and moments of welcome levity.


Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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