Playwright Larissa Fasthorse’s Zany Farce Reveals an Insider’s Guide to American Indian Identity and How to Become Native as a Pastime
Fake It Until You Make It
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
April 12, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Noah Bean (Theo) and Shyla Lefner (Wynona) in Fake It Until You Make It at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater running April 3 – May 4, 2025. (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Fake It Until You Make It is a wildly funny farce that provides us with a modern-day interpretation of Indian Country vis à vis White America with all its struggles and challenges. It is a co-production with Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group.
For a wonderfully fascinating eight years, I became immersed in the heart of Native culture for Indian Country Media Network, and as beautiful, fascinating and historical it is, it can be a tangled web. No one is quite certain of the racial or cultural definition of what it means to be American Indian, for example how much ancestral Indian blood allows membership in a tribe, or if a White person can properly represent their interests. This raucous comedy addresses all those familiar controversies with lampooning, caricatures and cheeky humor.
 Burgandi Trejo Phoenix (Grace), Noah Bean (Theo), Shyla Lefner (Wynona), Eric Stanton Betts (Mark), and Brandon Delsid (Krys) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Playwright Larissa Fasthorse, who defines herself as a DC-born nonbinary Two Spirit Afro-Indigenous (Quechua-Kichwa) Latine actor, writer, director and musician, tackles these thorny issues with extraordinary humor, a side eye and a wink. Her six characters have differing viewpoints as to what makes an Indian an Indian, as they go head-to-head in a political farce that is wacky and wonderful with a cat (Yes, a cat!) that takes star turns in the women’s catfights.
Five of the characters have offices in a building dedicated to Native American Organizations. River (Amy Brenneman) is White, yet she’s ingratiated herself among the tribal elders with her non-profit group “Indigenous Nations Soaring”, and like the other NGO directors she is fighting for grants. Wynona (Shyla Lefner) runs N.O.B.U.S.H, a non-profit that promotes native plants and shuns the invasive butterfly bush. Thus, the ‘no bush’. She calls people who appropriate her native culture “Pretendians”. In her spare time, she is having a hot and heavy romance with Theo (Noah Bean) who’s an invasive plant remover and, as Wynona calls him, her “ecological warrior and undercover spy. She knows Theo is White but chooses to ignore that little detail to keep him as her lover.
 Shyla Lefner (Wynona) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Grace (Burgandi Trejo Phoenix) is an attorney whose concept of being Native American she describes as a personal choice. She calls it “race shifting”. In other words, you can be whatever race and culture floats your boat. To that end she morphs into Japanese, Middle Eastern and even White. And then there’s Krys (Brandon Delsid), an out gay man who goes to powwows with Grace and is a scene stealer and heart stealer in the very best way.
There are feuds and cock-ups as they challenge each other as to who is Native and who will snag the big grant. In one scene River does a TED talk and screws up her message by performing a slinky belly dance thinking she’ll charm her way to the top. She most decidedly does not. Theo pretends to be Native American in order to spy on River for Wynona. River needs a real Indian to front her organization. When the suave and handsome Mark (Eric Stanton Betts) shows up for his interview to be River’s Executive Director, Theo, who’s pretending to be Indian, gets caught out as a poser and everything goes utterly off the rails.
Describing the characters and their relationships does not in any way detract from the over-the-top high jinks, the chases, the spying, and the alliances. In the end, there are DNA tests that stun everyone as to who is a real Indian.
 Burgandi Trejo Phoenix (Grace), Brandon Delsid (Krys), Eric Stanton Betts (Mark), Noah Bean (Theo), and Shyla Lefner (Wynona) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Designer Sara Ryung Clement has created very effective moving sets of offices with doors and plate glass windows designed for us to see and hear everything that goes on inside. It’s a little bit like the TV show, “The Office” with mayhem and freakouts at every turn and I loved every bit of it.
With great respect local theaters have been paying homage to the American Indian tribes in our region, acknowledging they are sitting on their indigenous lands. On press night, several Native ambassadors were present to address the audience showcasing their music, language and culture and singing the Navaho national anthem.
A terrific cast directed by Michael John Garcés reveals an insider’s guide to American Indian identity and how to become Native as a pastime.
With Costume Design by E. B. Brooks, Lighting Design by Tom Ontiveros, Sound Design by John Nobori, Fight Director Edgar Landa.
Through May 4th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 554-9066 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Winning Cast in a Must-see, Superbly Designed and Brilliantly Written Play at Arena Stage
The Age of Innocence
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
March 9, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Delphi Borich (May Welland), A.J. Shively (Newland Archer), and Shereen Ahmed (Countess Ellen Olenska) in The Age of Innocence at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater running February 28 – March 30, 2025. (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Karen Zacarías’s brilliantly imagined stage adaption of Edith Wharton’s classic novel is an absolute gem with Tim Mackabee’s elaborate set replete with floating chandeliers, theatre boxes that jut out above the stage from all four corners to reveal high society opera attendees dressed to the nines in Victorian splendor, and a separate center stage that rises and falls with each new intimate scene. If you are wistful to see this novel come alive, you’ll swoon for it. It’s sophisticated and elegant, as expected, wrapped around a tragic story of unrequited love.
The Age of Innocence is brilliantly cast with huge Broadway actor and local beloved Felicia Curry in the starring role of Granny as well as serving as the story’s narrator, the ravishing Shereen Ahmed, another Broadway luminary as femme fatale Countess Ellen Olenska and the very debonair and impressive actor A. J. Shively as the impassioned lover, Newland Archer. He will sweep you off your feet!
 A.J. Shively (Newland Archer) and Delphi Borich (May Welland) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Intrigue abounds in the salons of New York high society and this story has it in spades. The “Old Four Hundred” as they were known in the Gilded Age, ruled like royalty. Four hundred families set the tone for proper manners and acceptable behavior in society. These strict societal edicts were etched in stone like the sermon on the mount and impossible to adhere to due to the vagaries of love and human emotion.
Slimy mountebanks with questionable titles swept in from overseas to relieve these august families of their wealth or young heiresses of their dowries. Pretentious fops and empty-headed debutantes fill out the inner circle. It wasn’t as unruffled as it seemed to those looking in from outside the gates. And that’s exactly what makes this fast-moving plot so delicious. Because in this microcosm of the well-to-do, gossip reigned supreme and these elegant dowagers are superb at taking each other down.
 Shereen Ahmed (Countess Ellen Olenska) and Delphi Borich (May Welland) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Only Newland Archer seems to rail at society’s hypocrisies “Women ought to be free,” he announces to one and all. Everyone else just goes along with the unspoken rules imbuing Granny as the arbiter of all family disputes. When Ellen appears at a dinner Granny refers to her parents as “Continental wanderers” (Heaven forfend!) alluding to her failed marriage to a brutal Count. You may recall Newland’s sister, Janey, who poses the query, “We can’t behave like people in novels, can we? We can’t be vulgar.”
Fabio Toblini’s costumes are drop dead fabulous. Outstanding is Ellen’s full-length red satin dress that calls to mind John Singer Sargent’s portraits of the period.
This is a winning cast in a must-see, profoundly creative, superbly designed and written play.
Highly recommended!
 Shereen Ahmed (Countess Ellen Olenska) and A.J. Shively (Newland Archer)(Photo/Daniel Rader)
With Regina Aquino as Mrs. Archer and Others; Delphi Borich as May Welland; Lise Bruneau as Mrs. van der Luyden; Anna Theoni DiGiovanni as Janey Archer and Others; Paolo Montalban as Julius Beaufort and Others; Noah Mutterperl as Valet and Others; Anthony Newfield as Sillerton Jackson and Others; Natalya Lynette Rathnam as Mrs. Welland and Others; and Jacob Yeh as Dallas Archer and Others.
Expertly directed by Hana S. Sharif; Lighting Design by Xavier Pierce; Wig and Hair Design by Tommy Kurzman; Original Music and Sound Design by Charles Coes & Nathan A. Roberts; Dramaturg Otis-Ramsey-Zöe.
Through March 30th at Arena Stage, 1101 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter Musical Is the Hilarious High We All Need
Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter – A New Musical
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
February 16, 2025
Special to The Zebra
 Emerson Holt Lacayo (Abby), Elin Joy Seiler (Amy), Aria Kane (Sarah), and Alina Santos (Ally) in Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter – A New Musical at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography)
What kid doesn’t have issues? And what parent doesn’t try to figure out how to find solutions?
In Sarah Silverman’s semi-autographical story, The Bedwetter, reflecting her difficult childhood, we meet Sarah (Aria Kane), her divorced parents, an older sister, Laura (Avery Harris) who snarkily ignores her, her agoraphobic mother, Beth Ann (Shoshona Bean), her father, Donald (Darren Goldstein), and her feisty grandmother, Nana (Liz Larsen). We also learn of the two elephants in the room, little Sarah’s bedwetting and a baby brother who has died.
Ten-year-old Sarah’s coping mechanisms are humor highlighted by a potty mouth that she gets from her serial-cheater father and Nana. Blessed by the uncanny ability to do celebrity fart impressions, Sarah’s comedic talents and sharp-as-a-tack comebacks eventually win over a gaggle of schoolgirls, Abby (Emerson Holt Lacayo), Amy (Elin Joy Seiler) and Ally (Alina Santos) who decide to accept Sarah into their tight-knit group.
 Emerson Holt Lacayo (Abby), Alysha Umphress (Mrs. Dembo), Elin Joy Seiler (Amy), Aria Kane (Sarah), and Alina Santos (Ally) (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography)
Excited by an invitation to Amy’s birthday party, where she entertains her new friends with dirty jokes, Sarah is shocked to learn the party is also an overnight pajama party to watch the Miss America pageant (cue Bert Parks). Sarah’s anxiety kicks into high gear and she calls her mother, hoping she’ll tell her to come back home. Uncharacteristically, Beth Ann tells her to “have fun”. Despite Sarah’s efforts to stay awake all night, the inevitable happens. Somehow, she doesn’t get caught out. Not yet. It’s only later when Sarah has her girlfriends over and Nana arrives helpfully offering jumbo packs of diapers at Sarah, that the girls catch on and turn their backs on her.
Based on the advice of one of his lovers, Donald decides to take Sarah to a nutty hypnotist who tells her, “Imagine a stream in a forest.” Sarah asks him, “Is that the best analogy for a bedwetter?”. After that fiasco, he then takes her to Dr. Grimm (Rick Crom who plays seven roles in five different wigs – I asked.), a therapist who prescribes massive amounts of Xanax – cue the life-sized, tap-dancing, yellow capsules.
 Liz Larsen (Nana) and Aria Kane (Sarah) (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography)
At school, Sarah is repeatedly scolded by the prim and proper Mrs. Dembo (Alysha Umphress) who is organizing a talent contest once won by her former student who became Miss New Hampshire (Ashley Blanchet). Hailing from the same state, the girls are enamored of the beauty queen who appears in several fantasy sequences.
Through it all, there is laughter and poignancy, gags and pratfalls, coupled with touching moments from an outstanding cast of Broadway luminaries that shines brightly both vocally and comedically. I promise you will fall in love with little Sarah, her goofy, well-intentioned, salesman father, her Manhattan-swilling grandmother, her adoring mother and her at-arm’s-length sister.
 Avery Harris (Laura), Shoshana Bean (Beth Ann), and Aria Kane (Sarah) (Photo/T Charles Erickson Photography)
Written by the irrepressible comedian, Sarah Silverman with Joshua Harmon and super-charged by uber-successful composers Adam Schlesinger and David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit) to include the high-wattage choreographer, Danny Mefford of Dear Evan Hansen fame, Book by notable Joshua Harmon, award-winning Director, Anne Kauffman and backed by famed Tony and Olivier Award-winning Broadway producers – Tom Kirdahy of Hadestown fame, and Broadway royalty Barry and Fran Weissler of Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy, Chicago, La Cage aux Folles and Waitress, this production has all the signs it will go straight to Broadway.
Based upon “The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee” by Sarah Silverman. Lyrics by Sarah Silverman and Adam Schlesinger; Orchestrator and Arranger, David Chase; Set Design by David Korins; Choreography by Danny Mefford; Costume Design by Kaye Voyce; Lighting Design by Japhy Weideman; Sound Design by Kai Harada; Video Design by Lucy MacKinnon; Hair and Wig Design by Tom Watson.
Highly recommended!!!
Through March 16th at Arena Stage, 1101 6th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 554-9066 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Ken Ludwig’s Glamorous Stage Adaption of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile Appeals to Murder Mystery Buffs
Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
December 12, 2024
 Eric Hissom (Septimus Troy), Nancy Robinette (Salomé Otterbourne), Sumié Yotsukura (Rosalie Otterbourne), Katie Kleiger (Jacqueline de Bellefort), Armando Durán (Hercule Poirot), Felicia Curry (Annabelle Pennington), and Jamil A.C. Mangan (Colonel Race) (Photo/Charles Erickson Photography)
Two lovers, Jacqueline de Bellefort (Kate Kleiger) and Simon Doyle (Travis Van Winkle), ooze passion in the opening scene of Ken Ludwig’s stage adaption of Death on the Nile. They have just gotten engaged. Jacqueline is an old friend of femme fatale and museum benefactress, Linnet Ridgeway (Olivia Cygan), and she is eager to renew her friendship that evening at a gala reception in the Egyptian rooms at the British Museum where museum curator, Atticus Praed (Robert Stanton), will be revealing the sarcophagus of Amun-Ra to the assembled guests.
The glittering crowd includes Linnet Ridgeway; Salomé Otterbourne (Nancy Robinette), an erstwhile author and aspiring actress and her beautiful daughter, Rosalie (Sumié Yotsukura). Salomé meets Septimus Troy, (Eric Hissom) a debonair gentleman whose former Shakespearean acting career has been reduced to playing American cowboys and somehow the two hit it off.
 Armando Durán (Hercule Poirot) (Photo/Charles Erickson Photography)
Also in attendance is Hercule Poirot (Armando Durán), Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective; Colonel Race (Jamil A. C. Mangan), Poirot’s dear friend and former collaborator; Ramses Praed (Ryan Michael Neely), Atticus’s son, a handsome, young doctor who begins a love affair with Rosalie Otterbourne. A late arrival is Linnet’s attorney, Annabelle Pennington (Felicia Curry) who urges Linnet to sign a sheaf of contracts relating to her estate.
A voyage along the Nile to Karnak to return the sarcophagus to Egypt is planned for the guests and all gather on the ship. At this point you’ll need to brush up on your sleuthing powers, because this is a whodunnit with plenty of motives for murder, clues that lead nowhere, red herrings and leads that fall flat. “Wherever you go, a dead body shows up,” Colonel Race quips presciently to Poirot. And as the ship leaves the port, the plot thickens.
 Travis Van Winkle (Simon Doyle) and Olivia Cygan (Linnet Ridgeway) (Photo/Charles Erickson Photography)
It will soon be revealed that there are suspects and a slew of motives for murder when Linnet is murdered in her bed. Linnet, who has hired Simon at Jacqueline’s suggestion, has married Simon and Jacqueline’s jealousy and retribution at both Simon and Linnet knows no bounds. Could it be her? Or Atticus, who was left in a financial lurch when Linnet’s father pulled his major donation to the museum? Perhaps it’s Annabelle who continues to press Linnet to sign some dubious contracts or Septimus who has a beef with Linnet’s father who pulled his funding out of film he was to star in.
This mystery has all the drama of the sinking of the Titanic – the glitter, the glamour and the dénouement. Alexander Dodge’s breathtaking set design (the ship’s elegantly appointed lounge and the massive sarcophagus) combined with Brittany Bland’s evocative video projections of Egypt’s history and atmospheric images of the Nile, and Karen Perry’s fabulous costume designs (Linnet’s gowns are jaw-dropping!) serve to elevate the entire production in which you will note a cast that is clearly up to the task.
A triumph and challenge for mystery buffs everywhere.
 Jamil A.C. Mangan (Colonel Race), Travis Van Winkle (Simon Doyle), and Olivia Cygan (Linnet Ridgeway) (Photo/Charles Erickson Photography)
Directed by Hana S. Sharif, Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner, Original Music and Sound Design by Charles Coes and Nathan A. Roberts, Hair and Wig Design by LaShawn Melton, Fight Director Sordelet Inc. – Rick Sordelet, Dramaturg Otis Ramsey-Zöe, Dialect and Vocal Coach Lisa Nathans.
Through December 29th at Arena Stage in the Kreeger Theater – 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information contact the box office at 202.488.3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Matthew Libby’s Dystopian Thriller Data at Arena Stage is Edgy, Relevant and Thought-Provoking
Data
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
November 12, 2024
 Karan Brar (Maneesh) and Rob Yang (Wang Tao (Alex))(Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography)
Factoid: The greatest concentration of data centers in the world are located in Northern Virginia. Eighty percent of the data center industry is located in and around Loudoun County. It is known as “Data Center Alley”.
In case you haven’t been following these news stories of late, there has been a ground swell of protest as local residents are fighting back against the proliferation of these massive buildings in their suburban neighborhoods. They are experiencing the infernal 24/7 humming heard inside their homes and are concerned about the massive electricity and water usage these operations demand.
 Karan Brar (Maneesh) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography)
In playwright Matthew Libby’s Data the focus is on what goes on within the walls of Athena, a predictive software company where manipulation, coverups, backstabbing and fear are rife. Inside we meet four employees, Maneesh (Karan Brar), Jonah (Stephen Cefalu, Jr.), Riley (Isabel Van Natta) and Alex (Rob Yang). Alex, a former officer in the Singapore army, leads the data analytics team. His data analytics team is considered the top dog in the company’s hierarchy. Alex wants to be able to tell his higher-ups that he has staffed his team with the finest engineers to qualify for a pending contract from Homeland Security.
Riley has been on the team for a while. For moral reasons she is fearful of what this contract wants the team to do. Maneesh is a recent hire in the company in a beginner’s program. An engineering prodigy from an immigrant family, he is being mentored by Jonah, an immature dork who is paranoid about being downsized (read: streamlining non-essential personnel) as the programs become more sophisticated. Riley wants Maneesh on the team, because she thinks he will be able to help her change the direction of this contract, which she fears is dangerous and highly intrusive. “I make the world a worse place,” she warns him, telling him how the project plans to institute a system for “immigration adjudication” which would directly affect Maneesh’s parents.
 Karan Brar (Maneesh) and Stephen Cefalu, Jr. (Jonah) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography)
While at university Maneesh designed a groundbreaking algorithm for predictive analysis and Alex believes it will be the catalyst to win the contract. He explains they want to source online data to learn about a “person’s heart”, all under the guise of global security. But first he wants Maneesh to understand that within Athena there is a ‘Code of Silence” that can never be broken. As a result of Alex’s manipulation, Maneesh ultimately signs an NDA to join the team. That’s the setup for this brilliantly written, super edgy and riveting drama.
Convos between these four characters are separated by interstices of electronica, the humming of massive computers processing data and tracers of florescent lights against a black screen. It’s eerie and thought-provoking. The movie, “Minority Report’ is referenced. If you know, then you know.
 Isabel Van Natta (Riley) and Karan Brar (Maneesh) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography)
The acting is pitch perfect and I couldn’t be more impressed by this political thriller loaded with the kind of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. Who will betray whom, who is really in control and what will it all lead to? I urge you to see this modern-day dystopian drama with echoes of Orwell’s “1984” and its themes of mass surveillance and government control. It’s a cautionary tale for our times.
Highly recommended.
Directed by Margot Bordelon, Set Design by Marsha Ginsberg, Costume Design by Beth Goldenberg, Lighting Design by Amith Chandrashaker, Sound Design by Mikaal Sulaiman, Composer Dan Kluger, and Dramaturg Otis Ramsey-Zoe.
 Rob Yang (Wang Tao (Alex)) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography)
Through December 15th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 554-9066 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Multi-Award Winning Stage and Screen Actor John Leguizamo Wrote and Stars in The Other Americas at Arena Stage
The Other Americans
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
November 6, 2024
Special to The Zebra
 Bradley James Tejeda (Eddie), Luna Lauren Velez (Patti), Rosa Arredondo (Norma), Rebecca Jimenez (Toni), and John Leguizamo (Nelson) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography.)
Reflecting style elements of “I Love Lucy”, “American Family”, “Primo”, “One Day at a Time”, “Chico and the Man”, “Ugly Betty”, “Modern Family”, “George Lopez” and other well-loved TV sitcoms based on the Latino experience in America, The Other Americans tells a story about a humorous and dysfunctional Columbian American family struggling to achieve the ‘American Dream’ while at the same time keeping their family from falling apart. Yet, unlike many feel-good, living-in-America TV shows, this searing play reveals a far darker theme than other. It revolves around a suicidal son and a family in crisis.
Playwright, John Leguizamo is a multi-award-winning actor and playwright who has garnered more than his share of Tony, Emmy, Drama Desk, Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards. As well-known for stand-up as for his film work, often portraying gritty characters on the fringes of society, Leguizamo both wrote and stars in this world premiere family dramedy that showcases his live performance skills and film experience. In the role of Nelson, he gives us a father and jokester whose outsized ego systematically tears apart the family he most loves.
 Luna Lauren Velez (Patti) and John Leguizamo (Nelson) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography.)
It begins with light banter between Nelson, Eddie, Veronica and Patti. Patti is preparing a large Latino style meal to celebrate Nicky’s return home. While they await Nicky’s return, the couple tease each other playfully, bust a move to Latin and disco music and blame each other relentlessly for Nicky’s mental breakdown. We begin to see Nelson’s drinking problem, his demeaning treatment of Eddie and his domineering attitude towards Patti. Nelson owns a string of laundromats inherited from his father and the family is living a comfortable life with a just-built swimming pool in hopes of convincing competitive swimmer Nicky to stay at home.
When Nicky returns any hope of family unity collapses quickly as both Nelson and Patti act out their frustrations towards him and each other for his refusal to accept their plans for his future. Nelson pressures him to go into the laundromat biz, while Patti insists he live at home and return to his college education. However, in a flash of self-determination, Nicky declares his intent to move in with the elusive Mitzi and become a choreographer. This becomes yet another rift in an already high-stress environment, making clear clear that no one’s agency is valued in this emotionally unstable household.
 Rebecca Jimenez (Toni), Rosa Arredondo (Norma), and Sarah Nina Hayon (Veronica)
Along with the intense drama of a family in financial and emotional trauma are elements of comic relief. The lines are cleverly written and deftly acted, yet this story is about a family who descends into a nobody-wins, all-out competition of sabotage and self-destruction and it’s not until the second act when Nicky’s illness is revealed. Cue a story of racism and violence.
As despicable a character as he has written for himself, Leguizamo’s performance as Nelson is extraordinary. His capacity for warp-speed morphing from caring father to domineering husband to chief manipulator and one-man insult factory is a master class in and of itself. But it can only be successful with the counterbalance of co-star Velez’s stellar performance as Patti who matches his fire, as well as Trey Santiago-Hudson’s searing star turn as Nicky.
 Rebecca Jimenez (Toni) and Trey Santiago-Hudson (Nicky) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography.)
Thanks to the brilliance of famed director Ruben Santiago-Hudson this broadly complex American tragedy comes to life only to echo the destructive human conflicts that seem never to be resolved. What serves to temper the drama is Patti’s actual cooking, done onstage with accompanying aromas thanks to Arnulfo Maldonado’s brilliant set design of a functioning kitchen + living room + bedroom + outdoor swimming pool – all enhanced by Simon Adrian’s and Kayla Prough’s props.
Destined to be an American classic.
 John Leguizamo (Nelson) and Luna Lauren Velez (Patti) (Photo/T. Charles Erickson Photography.)
Associate Director Timothy Johnson; Dramaturg Jack Moore; Costumes by Kara Harmon; Lighting Design by Jen Schriever; Sound Design by Justin Ellington; Original Music by Ricky Gonzalez; Hair Design by LaShawn Melton; Fight Director, Thomas Schall; and Intimacy Coordinator, Ann C. James.
Through November 24th at Arena Stage on the Fichandler Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
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