A Play About Loss and Trauma with Magic Realism Folded in with Love
Onstage Playhouse opens the year continuing its curatorial eye with these nuggets in American theatre that bring the storytelling with the abstract wrapped in a fantastic stage design and almost two hours of glorious silence.
You see, there has been a theme of white dysfunctionality in this first semester of the theatre world in San Diego. I am totally here for it, as I mentioned in one of the reviews, but within that mix in which we have been seeing about four shows a week, Alabaster was definitely a pallet cleanser. Two hours of glorious silence because the day I went to Onstage in the performance that I saw, there was only attention accompanied by the traditional gasps from seeing the play. No cell phones with bright screens and rings in the audience during the performance, a practice that is ridiculously getting out of hand and that I will write about soon. Moving on…
Relatively new, the play by Audrey Cefaly debuted in 2019 -in Florida, of all places-. An all-female cast and the Onstage production with a female director, Teri Brown. Set in Alabaster, Alabama, June (Vic Terry) lives and takes care of her family farm, which was hit by a tornado 3 years prior, and is the only survivor. She and her goats Weezy (Jillian Jones) and Bib (Amy Dell). Alice (Ray-Anna Ranae) is a New York photographer doing a series on scars and travels to Alabaster to photograph June’s scared body. June has a tight bond with her goats, especially Weezy (Jillian Jones), who is her Jiminy Cricket. June and Alice have instant chemistry through each other’s artistry and pasts. Alice notices way more than what June shares and aims to save June, but first, she must save herself.
Duane McGregor’s set design used the whole stage space divided into two parts, the goats’ area and June’s room, which looks barn pertinent with light spring colors and is covered in her paintings, something she picked up after the tornado as a coping mechanism. The attention to detail from the night table to the bookshelves and the paintings themselves, courtesy of Ali Beauchamp and Kristy McNamee, made that room practically pop out onto the audience as it had a life of its own. Ginger Chody’s lighting went earthy for the goats and bright with orange, warm tones for June’s room, coming together with the framing that happened by having action on both sides of the stage, with the goats on the audience’s left and June’s room on the right. Teri Brown’s direction balances both sides’ interactions with fluent, solid dialogues. Vic Terry delivers an intense June with dashes of frailty and unique reactions that come through organically, having a good stage game with Ray-Anna Ranae, who moves effortlessly through the stage, portraying a strong yet guarded Alice. Jillian Jones, as the resilient Weezy, is mighty, interacting with the audience and giving compelling monologues with truth wrapped in metaphors. There is a lovely scene that involves a French braid, and the simplicity of that movement while delivering a dialogue is beautiful. Any Dell as the sweet Bib, from the realistic hairstyle to the bleats/ maas, rounded out the magic realism Cefaly folded into the story.
Jaden Guerrero’s sound boosted specific timings in key scenes by combining strong effects with smooth remote ones. Christopher Thornton’s costume design went with an NYC/artistic/business casual for Alice, going opposite Vic and Weezy with jeans, a prominent belt buckle, and tops, having Bib in a flowy nightgown.
Alabaster is one of those works that stays marinating while recreating and even maybe coming up with different possible outcomes. It is a piece that invites reflection through a loving approach to loss and trauma.
Currently playing until March 2. For more information on ticket prices and performance times, please click here.
Keep in mind, enjoying theatre doesn’t have to be expensive. There are always options to score great seats at a price that fits your budget.
