Native Gardens @ Dallas Theater Center
—Teresa Marrero
The saying that some things get better with age can easily be applied to Karen Zacarías’ Native Gardens. I’ve seen the work done before, some years ago at another North Texas theater. Happily, time has been good to this play, and the current Dallas Theater Center production at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, under the direction of Los Angeles-based Latiné director Sylvia Cervantes Blush, shines very brightly.
The play’s text is funny, well-written, and timelessly relevant on a broad spectrum of issues, from neighborly relations (and the infamous fences that make them better) to deeper issues of racial typecasting and colorism, implicit and explicit biases, and other hot-button topics. From all of these one might suspect Native Gardens is a dramatic hothouse, heavy and humid—but no, it’s light (in a good way) and full of humor.
The plot is simple: Tania and Pablo Del Valle, a couple in their 30s, have just bought an old brownstone fixer-upper in an historical, well-established neighborhood on the East Coast. Pablo (Christopher Llewyn Ramirez) is a new lawyer at a prestigious law firm and wants to impress his boss and co-workers. He impulsively invites them all to a BBQ at his new home—in six days. The problem is that Tania (Tiffany Solano), his very pregnant wife and an anthropology doctoral candidate, hasn’t even unpacked. She feels overwhelmed by the idea of a party.
Yet Pablo insists they can pull it off by doing a catered event in their new backyard. The trouble is, the yard’s been neglected, with an ugly chain-link fence and an old oak tree that’s shedding leaves and acorns. In a friendly gesture, Pablo and Tania approach their older next-door neighbors, Virginia (Sally Nystuen Vahle) and Frank Butley (Bob Hess), to see if they’d agree to work with them on a few quick improvements. The Butleys happily agree, but when Pablo hires surveyors to plot the property line, it’s discovered that the Butleys, unknowingly, have been gardening two feet over into the Del Valle property.
Things go awry quickly. Turns out, it’s not just the barbecue at stake: Frank has a best-garden contest the very same weekend, one he’s been trying to win for years.
On both sides of the fence, all are educated, upper middle-class professionals who believe they’re in the right. The older couple, in particular, don’t feel they should have to make any changes to the well-established order of their lives. And in Zacarías’ script (she is considered a Latina playwright) both sides are well represented. There is no bias towards either the Latiné or the Anglo sides of the arguments, which delve into implicit and explicit biases on both sides.
The Butleys come up with some lines that make the Latiné sensibilities cringe. For instance, they assume their new neighbors are Mexican. Aren´t all Latinos Mexican? Well, no. Pablo comes from an upper-class Chilean background, and Tania´s family goes several generations back in New Mexico. On the other hand, when the Del Valle’s contract with a team of Latiné workers (played by Esteban Vilchez, Rudy Lopez, and Christina Austin Lopez) to build their fence, Tania in a friendly gesture comes out with a boom box playing Mexican ranchera music. One of the landscapers cringes at Tania’s assumption about who they are.
This was a brilliant moment, and a testament to director Cervantes Blush´s sensibilities. She inserts physical comedy into the mix, allowing for nuances of meaning that need no words. In a talkback after the show, the actors mentioned the director encouraging them to model their characters’ comedic styles (both sophisticated and slapstick) on TV sitcom characters. (The actors mentioned I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Frazier, among others.)
Sara Ryung Clement’s set is to die for, Carolyn Mazuca’s costumes quite effective (particularly Vahle’s platinum blonde wig!), the lighting and music seamlessly appropriate (from Carolina Ortiz Herrera and David Lanza). It was a pleasant surprise to see Solano and Austin Lopez dance cumbia well. (It is a pet peeve of mine to see actors onstage butchering Latin dances with stiff unmusical bodies. These two did a great job.)
Hess infused his Frank with just the right amount of neurotic obsession over his beloved garden. Vahle´s neo-feminist “I am woman, I am strong¨ attitude served her Virginia well. Tania´s vulnerability with that huge baby bump was balanced with Solano´s quick wit to create an empathetic character. And Ramirez´s Pablo (modeled after Ricky Ricardo of I Love Lucy) came across much more balanced in his comedic moments, his ambitions, and his intelligence than the original, played (as he was allowed to) by Cuban Desi Arnaz in the 1950s series. It’s worth noting that the majority of the cast are members of the DTC’s Diane and Hal Brierly Resident Acting Company. There is a lot to be said for a standing residency with actors who can short-cut into each other’s acting process.
From the audience´s reaction and my own, I can safely say that I (and they) highly recommend seeing Native Gardens. There’s a lot to walk away with for conversations after the show.
Dr. Teresa Marrero is Professor of Latin American and Latiné Theater in the Department of Spanish at the University of North Texas.
