‘Rooted’ @ Amphibian Stage
Photos by Evan Michael Woods and Jacob Oderberg
—Jan Farrington
Two sisters live in a treehouse, in a rural town well north of Manhattan. They’ve been there for decades. A craggy tree (named Mabel) is the biggest presence in their plant-filled, comfortably cluttered living space. And here, as one of them says, “Nothing’s happening…and everything’s happening.”
In the Amphibian Stage production of Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Rooted, one sister seems content with that life—but the other isn’t.
Laufer’s 2022 play, making its regional premiere with The ‘Phibs, is a comedy whose shoots and leaves reach out in every direction. Life’s little stuff and big stuff are “rooted” together here, trying to make a go of it on the micro level (the sisters’ very different visions for their lives) and the macro: climate change, global warming, the lure of celebrity, the science of unexpected “being”—like plants that (or is it “who”?) can “learn and remember.”
Is Rooted a rollicking comedy, a clear-eyed look at sisterhood, a hymn to the joys of new friendship, or a cautionary tale about putting yourself “out there” on YouTube?
Yes.
Director Scott Evans gets every caliper inch of emotion from the cast of three onstage: Laurel Whitsett as DIY plant scientist Emery, less comfortable with people than her array of well-loved mimosa seedlings; Laurel Collins as restless sister Hazel, who works as a waitress (in white plastic boots and pink mini-uniform; Kathleen Culebro’s costumes are spot-on and amusing) to support them both; and Aren Hugo as sweet-hearted Luanne, an unexpected visitor who grows on Emery, and us.
And along the way, we get a lively lesson in the groundbreaking science of ecologist Monica Gagliano (Thus Spoke the Plant), whose studies of plant cognition have opened minds to new possibilities.
One day, a cult turns up in the cow pasture next to the treehouse—strangers looking up, clamoring for Emery to heal and save them. People-phobic Em is appalled; Hazel finds “donations” from the crowd in their pull-up supply bucket…and gets a light in her eyes.
Who knows how the uproar might change their lives, opening up new ways to reach out, like a plant seeking the light? Sean Urbantke’s marvelous, woodsy, tree-topped set (plus scenic artist Isabella Barnet’s ginormous floral array) makes us want to watch this human garden grow, and the lighting and technical effects (Adam Chamberlin, Jeff Stanfield et al.) have an aura of super-reality that adds strangeness and unpredictability. Life unfolds mysteriously, both plant and human.
Though playwright Laufer has a number of shows under her belt, this final preview for Rooted (it officially opens this weekend) was my first encounter with her work—and I frankly love her light and amusingly flat-footed touch with dialogue. This isn’t fancy-speak, but it has an everyday spark that engages—and leads us (even as we’re laughing) to listen carefully. It’s a theater combo that’s hard to achieve, and quite wonderful when it takes root like this.
The three actors deliver fun and laughter, heart tugs and some new thoughts to take home. I will remember Whitsett’s soft edges and utter, soul-deep determination…Collin’s fierce embrace of the sister she loves, but wants to leave…and Hugo’s cherubic, true-blue, let-me-in smile.
WHEN: January 31-February 16, 2025
WHERE: 120 S. Main Street, Fort Worth
WEB: amphibianstage.com
