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| Cast of Family Matters (David Hsieh) |
Family Matters
ReAct Theatre
(at 12th Avenue Arts)
Through July 28, 2018
ReAct Theatre is presenting a new play by local playwright
Rachel Atkins called Family Matters. Atkins has fashioned a tender,
stressed-out family dramedy that focuses on themes of family responsibility,
elder pitfalls, adoption, and race. It’s a pretty full pot of stew!
The story, involving four female family members and a new
boyfriend, is set on Mother’s Day and the Horowitz family elder, Nana (Walayn Sharples) gets to have an
outside celebration at her family home because it’s tradition to do it that
way. What’s new is that Nana goes in and out of remembering things, and her
daughters Pearl (Serin Ngai) and
Lena (Katie Tupper) and granddaughter
Gracie (Mika Swanson) try to figure
out how to celebrate around the forgettings and the moments of outright
dementia.
Clearly, this is a “blended family,” as the daughters are
Asian and the mom is not. The progress of the dialogue helps us understand that
this Jewish couple adopted two (unrelated) Korean babies, years ago, and reared
them in the Jewish faith and traditions. Pearl does not think about her “birth
heritage” much, but Lena has become a bit obsessed with reclaiming her Korean birthright.
Similarly, Pearl and Lena deal very differently with their
mother’s dementia. Pearl seems more realistic about it, and lives with it every
day, but Lena discounts the severity of the situation and wants Pearl to just
keep doing what Pearl’s been doing – taking the brunt of the responsibility off
Lena’s shoulders.
Gracie has been helping take care of Nana, but aside from
barista work, has not made much forward progress with her own life. She invites
her new boyfriend, Antoine (Tamron
Harrison), to come to the celebration so everyone can meet him. But she’s
neglected to mention that he’s black.
In fact, Gracie explains, the family has seemed so…post-racial
(my term) that Gracie is surprised that his skin color is even a “thing” and
appalled when Nana looks at him and starts screaming the “N” word at him and
becoming terrorized. This moment changes the tenor of the play from a sort of
light family comedy with a theme about elder decline into a fuller stew of
racial issues, attempting to take them head on.
Atkins has written plays about race before and includes clashing
ideologies and internal biases of characters both white and of color. This is,
of course, still an area fraught with tension, even in plays that try to expand
people’s consciousness. Atkins manages this well and chooses family history to
steep it in. Black Like Us, another
recent play by Atkins, had “white” family members find out their mother was “passing”
as white and had a whole black family she kept from her children.
The cast, admirably led by veteran thespian, Sharples,
manages the themes and the transitions adeptly. Harrison, in particular,
manages the difficult emotions of a black man being called the “N” word, and
still having people expect him to forgive it immediately, with aplomb and
polish. His dialogue is also extremely well-written.
Still, the daughters and granddaughter could bite more into
their dialogue and show greater ranges of emotion. They’re not attacking what
they’ve been given as fully as they might. It may be that as the run continues,
they will get more comfortable and do so.
This is a production well worth your time and effort. More
plays are now dealing with dementia and aging, though not nearly as many as
there could be. More families are also dealing with race and their beliefs as
our country becomes more and more multicultural. Hopefully, you and your
companions will have great conversations after the show!
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